RKELEY 


LIFORNIA 


THE   SHORTER   POEMS   OF 
JOHN    MILTON 


THE  SHORTER  POEMS 


OF 


JOHN   MILTON 


INCLUDING 


THE  TWO  LATIN  ELEGIES  AND  ITALIAN  SONNET  TO 
DIODATI,   AND  THE  EPITAPHIUM  DAMONIS 


ARRANGED  IN  CHRONOLOGICAL   ORDER,   WITH  PREFACE, 
INTRODUCTION,  AND  NOTES 

BY 

ANDREW  J.    GEORGE,  M.A. 

DEPARTMENT    OF   ENGLISH,    HIGH    SCHOOL,    NEWTON,    MASS. 

EDITOR  OF  WORDSWORTH'S  "  PRELUDE,"    "  SELECT  POEMS  OF 

KOBERT  BURNS,"  TENNYSON'S  "PRINCESS,"  ETC. 


gorfc 
THE    MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

LONDON:  MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LTD. 

1898 

All  rights  reserved 


COPYRIGHT,  1898, 
BY  ANDREW  J.  GEORGE 


r/ 

'O 


Nortoooto 

J.  S.  Cashing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith. 
Norwood  Mass.  U.S.A. 


To 
DAVID  MASSON,  M.A.,  LL.D. 

WHOSE    COMPLETE    AND    SCHOLARLY    WORKS 

ON    MILTON 

HAVE     WON    THE    ADMIRATION   OF    ALL 
STUDENTS    OF    ENGLISH    LETTERS 

THIS    EDITION 
IS    GRATEFULLY   INSCRIBED 


413 


"AFTER  I  had  for  my  first  years,  by  the  ceaseless  diligence 
and  care  of  my  father,  (whom  God  recompense)  been  exercised 
to  the  tongues,  and  some  sciences,  as  my  age  would  suffer,  by 
sundry  masters  and  teachers,  both  at  home  and  at  the  schools, 
it  was  found  that  whether  aught  was  imposed  me  by  them  that 
had  the  overlooking,  or  betaken  to  of  mine  own  choice  in 
English  or  other  tongue,  prosing  or  versing,  but  chiefly  by  this 
latter,  the  style,  by  certain  vital  signs  it  had,  was  likely  to  live. 
...  I  began  thus  far  to  assent  to  an  inward  prompting  which 
now  grew  daily  upon  me,  that  by  labour  and  intent  study, 
(which  I  take  to  be  my  portion  in  this  life),  joined  with  the 
strong  propensity  of  nature,  1  might  perhaps  leave  something 
so  written  to  aftertimes  as  they  should  not  willingly  let  it  die. 
...  I  applied  myself  to  fix  all  the  industry  and  art  I  could 
unite  to  the  adorning  of  my  native  tongue." 

—  The  Reason  of  Church  Government. 


PREFACE 

IN  June,  1891,  I  received  a  letter  from  Senator 
George  F.  Hoar,  in  which  occurs  the  following:  "I 
should  like  to  make  a  suggestion  to  you  which  I 
think  would  enable  you  to  do  a  service  to  the  lovers 
of  good  literature  of  the  same  character  as  that  ren- 
dered by  your  Wordsworth's  '  Selections '  and  edition 
of  the  l  Prelude,'  —  that  is,  that  you  publish  a  care- 
fully annotated  edition,  with  full  explanations,  of 
Milton's  *  Shorter  Poems,'  including  all  the  poems,  ex- 
cept '  Paradise  Lost,'  '  Paradise  Eegained,'  and  '  Sam- 
son Agonistes.'  I  read  'Lycidas'  aloud  to  my  wife 
last  evening,  and  we  were  both  surprised  to  find  so 
great  a  number  of  allusions  and  phrases,  the  meaning 
of  which  we  did  not  in  the  least  comprehend.  I  do 
not  refer  merely  to  the  classical  or  historic  names,  or 
the  places  in  and  about  the  English  seas  and  rivers,  to 
which  Milton  makes  reference,  but  also  to  the  mean- 
ing of  some  of  the  lines." 

At  that  time  I  was  not  ready  to  act  upon  Mr.  Hoar's 
suggestion  as  I  had  not  determined  what  was  the  best 
form  the  work  ought  to  assume.  In  the  six  years 
which  have  followed,  I  have  been  watching  the  vari- 
ous lines  along  which  the  mind  of  the  student  natu- 
rally works,  in  gathering  what  is  needful  for  an 
appreciation  of  the  "  Shorter  Poems,"  and  I  have 

vii 


viii  PREFACE 

found  that  what  Rev.  F.  D.  Maurice  said  at  Birming- 
ham, in  1862,  is  fundamentally  sound. 

"I  believe  you  cannot  understand  Milton,  or  his 
works,"  said  he,  "  in  any  way,  so  well  as  by  connect- 
ing them  with  the  stages  of  his  life :  in  what  place,  at 
what  time,  under  what  impulses,  amidst  what  society, 
the  thoughts  were  breathed  and  the  words  came  forth." 

The  aim  of  this  volume  is  to  present  the  poems 
which  preceded  the  great  epics  in  the  order  and  under 
those  influences  in  the  home  and  the  school,  in  the  uni- 
versity and  the  world,  which  formed  the  mind  and 
fashioned  the  art  of  the  poet.  The  notes  give  each 
poem  its  appropriate  setting  of  natural,  personal,  and 
historical  associations.  It  is  hoped  that  the  book  will 
be  found  representative  and  fairly  complete  in  its 
biography,  history,  and  criticism,  and  that  it  will  serve 
as  a  natural  and  healthful  incentive  to  those  who  wish 
to  extend  their  researches  in  any  of  these  lines.  I 
have  found  by  experience  that  this  method  of  read- 
ing the  "  Shorter  Poems  "  creates  such  an  interest  in 
Milton,  as  man  and  poet,  that  it  carries  one  naturally, 
and  with  no  abrupt  transition,  to  the  great  epics. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  editor  who  follows 
Professor  Masson  is  like  "the  Turk  who  builds  his 
cabin  out  of  Grecian  or  Roman  ruins,"  and  I  wish  to 
record  my  indebtedness  to  his  complete  and  scholarly 
works.  While  a  large  part  of  the  notes  needed  are 
such  as  have  grown  out  of  my  teaching  of  the  poems, 
yet,  in  very  many  cases,  the  material  could  not  be 
found  elsewhere  than  in  the  volumes  of  Professor 
Masson,  and  in  every  case,  where  I  have  been  so  in- 
debted, credit  has  been  given. 


PREFACE  IX 

My  thanks  are  due  to  Professor  Masson  for  the 
privilege,  so  graciously  given,  of  associating  his  name 
with  this  edition. 

The  Latin  poems  and  Italian  sonnet  to  Diodati,  with 
Cowper's  translation,  have  been  included  because  it  is 
believed  they  will  add  to  the  interest  of  the  work  by 
revealing  a  most  significant  influence  in  the  life  of  the 
poet. 

The  dates  which  precede  the  notes  to  each  poem 
refer,  if  there  are  two,  to  the  date  of  composition  of 
the  poem  and  its  first  publication  by  Milton ;  and  if 
three,  the  second  refers  to  date  of  first  publication  by 
some  one  other  than  Milton.  The  letters  K.,  T.,  and 
M.,  in  brackets,  refer  to  Keightley,  Todd,  and  Masson 
respectively. 

If  errors,  biographical,  historical,  or  textual,  are 
found  in  this  edition,  I  shall  be  glad  to  have  my 
attention  called  to  them. 

A.  J.  G. 
BBOOKLINE,  MASS., 

March,  1898. 


INTRODUCTION 


THE  period  intervening  between  the  destruction  of 
the  Spanish  galleons  in  1588  and  the  battle  of  La 
Hogue,  which  gave  England  her  dominion  of  the  seas 
in  1692,  witnessed  the  glorious  reign  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth close  in  an  evening  of  extraordinary  splendor 
and  beauty,  — 

"  From  worlds  not  quickened  by  the  sun, 
A  portion  of  the  gift  is  won  ; 
An  intermingling  of  Heaven's  pomp  is  spread 
On  ground  which  British  shepherds  tread," 

and  the  splendor  penetrated  into  the  dark  night  of 
the  Stuarts,  illuminating  a  solitary  peak  which  in  its 
turn  threw  the  fire  across  the  waste  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  in  its  light  arose  Wordsworth  and  Cole- 
ridge, those 

"Twin  morning  stars  of  the  new  century's  song." 

The  two  great  influences  at  work  in  England  at  the 
time  of  Milton's  birth  were  Hellenism,  which  came 
through  the  Renaissance,  and  revived  the  spontaneity 
of  consciousness  out  of  which  literature  and  art  were 
recreated;  and  Hebraism,  which  came  through  the 
Reformation,  and  revived  the  strictness  of  conscience 
out  of  which  the  spirit  of  righteousness  was  quick- 
ened. The  former  gave  us  Elizabethan  England,  with 

xi 


Xll  INTRODUCTION 

Spenser,  Sidney,  and  Shakespeare ;  the  latter  Puritan 
England,  with  Butler,  Bunyan,  and  Milton.  If  we 
would  understand  the  forces  which  created  and 
nurtured  Milton  the  man  and  poet  we  must  turn 
to  the  history  of  the  closing  years  of  Elizabeth  and 
the  period  of  James  I.  and  Charles  I.  His  work 
previous  to  the  Commonwealth  is  distinguished  for 
its  Renaissance  spirit,  its  charm  of  childhood  and 
grace  of  youth,  while  revealing  at  the  same  time  a 
sublime  dignity  born  of  early  Puritanism;  but  after 
the  Commonwealth  it  became  militant  and  is  itself 
a  history  of  the  time,  yet  is  still  true  to  the  two  great 
articles  of  Milton's  creed,  —  Art  and  Faith.  Carlyle 
has  said  that  Milton  was  the  child  of  Shakespeare 
and  John  Knox.  He  may  be  called  the  last  of  the 
Elizabethans  and  the  first  of  the  moderns. 

Elizabethan  England  was  characterized  by  marvel- 
lous expansion  in  literary,  religious,  and  commercial 
interests  which  led  to  a  spirit  of  independence  in  the 
nation  as  a  whole.  She  was  "a  noble  and  puissant 
nation  rousing  herself  like  a  strong  man  after  sleep, 
and  shaking  her  invincible  locks  as  an  eagle  mewing 
her  mighty  youth,  and  kindling  her  undazzled  eyes  at 
the  full  midday  beam."  London  was  the  centre  of  all 
these  interests,  and  Elizabeth  the  object  of  chivalrous 
loyalty.  When  the  midday  splendor  of  the  literary 
impulse  revealed  itself  in  the  Faerie  Queene  instinct 
with  the  vital  soul  of  the  age,  it  became  "the  de- 
light of  every  accomplished  gentleman,  the  model 
of  every  poet,  the  solace  of  every  soldier."  In  it 
were  embodied  those  principles  of  literary,  political, 
and  religious  activity  which  were  destined  to  shake 


INTRODUCTION  Xlll 

the  foundations  of  the  Church  and  the  kingship  in  the 
moral  earnestness  which  was  developing  out  of  the  Re- 
naissance and  the  Reformation;  for  it  was  in  the  last 
years  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  years  of  splendor  at  home 
and  triumph  abroad,  that  England  passed  through  that 
mighty  change  due  to  her  becoming  a  nation  of  a 
single  book,  —  the  Bible.  The  Bible,  clothed  in  the 
language  of  Shakespeare,  and  enthroned  in  the  home 
which  Puritanism  had  created,  fostered  manners,  vir- 
tue, freedom,  power,  in  society,  politics,  religion,  and 
literature.  From  it  came  the  new  conception  of  the 
dignity  of  the  individual,  in  which  humanity  redis- 
covered its  patent  of  nobility ;  it  revealed  the  divinity 
of  humanity  to  u  every  boy  that  driveth  the  plough," 
as  well  as  to  every  theologian  in  his  study. 

It  is  difficult  for  us  in  the  nineteenth  century  to 
realize  how  complete  was  the  union  of  the  literary, 
political,  and  religious  spirit  under  the  influence  of 
the  teaching  of  the  Bible.  From  it  came  that  noble 
enthusiasm  for  one  God,  one  Law,  which  meant  no 
divine  right  for  kings  which  was  not  a  divine  right 
for  every  man.  Every  political  act  affected  both  liter- 
ature and  religion ;  every  literary  production  carried 
a  political  and  a  religious  message ;  while  every  ob- 
servance of  religion  looked  to  the  creation  of  a  purer 
political  and  literary  activity.  The  crowds  which 
nocked  to  St.  Paul's  to  listen  to  the  reading  of  Bon- 
ner's  Bibles,  and  the  tenant,  the  farmer,  and  the  shop- 
keeper who  reverently  read  a  chapter  from  the  "big 
book"  around  the  family  hearth,  were  being  trained 
in  literary  and  political  principles  by  which  of  old  the 
poet,  the  statesman,  and  the  prophet  —  heroes  all  — 


XIV  INTRODUCTION 

had  been  nurtured.  "  Legends  and  annals,  war  song 
and  psalm,  state  rolls  and  biographies,  the  mighty 
voices  of  prophets,  the  parables  of  evangelists, 
stories  of  mission  journeys,  of  perils  by  sea  and 
among  the  heathen,  philosophic  arguments,  apoca- 
lyptic visions,  —  all  were  flung  broadcast  over  minds 
unoccupied,  for  the  most  part,  by  any  rival  learning." 
Such  was  the  temper  of  the  Puritan  at  the  accession 
of  James  I. 

The  natural  disposition  of  James,  and  the  training 
which  he  received  during  the  stormy  times  in  Scotland, 
make  it  easy  to  forecast  what  will  be  the  characteristics 
of  his  reign  at  a  time  when  Episcopacy  is  established 
in  England,  and  Presbyterianism  in  Scotland;  when 
the  two  antagonistic  parties,  Catholics  and  Puritans, 
each  ready  for  the  death  struggle,  are  watching  his 
every  movement;  and  the  civilized  world  interested 
spectators.  Where  Elizabeth  had  been  wise,  temper- 
ate, judicious,  serious,  he  was  foolish,  radical,  rash,  and 
trifling.  Early  in  his  reign  his  temper  of  mind  was 
revealed  at  the  Hampton  Court  Conference  called  to 
consider  the  petition  of  Puritans  for  some  changes  in 
the  methods  of  the  Episcopacy  by  which  it  would  be 
more  in  harmony  with  the  democratic  idea  of  the 
Reformers.  On  that  occasion  he  said,  "A  Scottish 
Presbyter  as  well  fitteth  with  monarchy  as  God  and 
the  Devil,"  and  ordered  the  ten  who  presented  the 
petition  (signed  by  more  than  a  thousand  of  their 
ministers)  to  be  imprisoned.  His  next  step  was  to 
assert  the  doctrine  of  Divine  Right  of  Kings  by  dic- 
tating to  the  House  of  Commons  ;  the  result  of  which 
was  the  reaction  of  the  Commons  against  the  Catholics, 


INTE  OD  UCTION  X  V 

the  exodus  of  Pilgrims  and  Puritans  to  the  New  World 
and  the  beginning  of  a  New  England. 

Notwithstanding  the  political  and  religious  ferment 
of  the  time,  the  principles  of  the  Renaissance  and  the 
Reformation,  which  created  Elizabethan  England,  still 
remained,  although  the  old  enthusiasm  for  England 
gradually  died  out  in  the  strife  of  parties,  and  imita- 
tion took  the  place  of  creation.  No  great  work  ap- 
pears in  this  period  of  exhaustion  and  transition  which 
does  not  owe  its  inspiration  to  the  atmosphere  of  the 
previous  period.  It  is  significant  that  in  1623,  the 
year  of  the  publication  of  the  first  folio  of  Shake- 
speare, Waller  published  his  earliest  couplets  and 
ushered  in  the  era  of  the  Classicists  with  their  brilliant 
conceits,  their  servility  to  foreign  models,  and  their 

learned  emptiness. 

"Ye  were  dead 

To  things  ye  knew  not  of,  —  were  closely  wed 
To  musty  laws  lined  out  with  wretched  rule 
And  compass  vile  ;  so  that  ye  taught  a  school 
Of  dolts  to  smooth,  inlay,  and  clip,  and  fit, 
Till,  like  the  certain  wands  of  Jacob's  wit 
They  tallied.     Easy  was  the  task  : 
A  thousand  handicraftsmen  wore  the  mask 
Of  Poesy." 

Charles  was  heir  not  only  to  his  father's  failings, 
but  to  all  the  mischief  which  those  failings  had  pro- 
duced. The  breach  between  King  and  Parliament 
grew  wider  because  of  the  excesses  of  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham  and  the  marriage  of  Charles  with  a 
French  Catholic  princess.  Hampden  and  Sir  John 
Eliot  led  the  attack  upon  the  king;  Parliament  re- 
fused to  grant  money,  and  declared  that  in  matters  of 


xvi  INTRODUCTION 

religion  and  politics  it  must  be  consulted,  and  that  if 
the  king  refused  '•'  he  was  a  betrayer  of  the  liberty  of 
England  and  an  enemy  to  the  same."  Charles  soon 
demonstrated  that  he  was  both  of  these  by  establishing 
the  Star  Chamber,  the  Court  of  High  Commission,  and 
by  attempting  to  force  the  prayer-book  upon  the  Scotch 
Covenanters.  We  must  not  forget  that  at  this  time, 
when  Charles  was  at  the  height  of  his  tyranny  and 
England  was  tossing  upon  the  wave  of  civil  war, 
Milton  was  resting  from  his  first  flight  and  pluming 
himself  for  a  second,  "of  highest  hope  and  hardest 
attempting,"  in  the  quietude  of  classic  Italy ;  and  that 
on  learning  the  direction  affairs  were  taking,  his  love 
of  freedom  made  but  one  course  clear  for  him, — to 
return  and  enter  the  contest  for  liberty  "when  the 
Church  of  God  was  at  the  foot  of  her  insulting 
enemies." 

After  Charles  found  that  he  could  not  scare  Parlia- 
ment into  submission,  he  threw  down  the  gauntlet  at 
the  foot  of  the  royal  standard  at  Nottingham,  and  war 
began.  Edgehill,  Marston  Moor,  and  Naseby  reveal 
the  course  of  that  struggle  which  ended  on  the  scaffold, 
and  the  Commonwealth  began  its  work  with  a  prohibi- 
tion against  the  proclaiming  of  any  person  king  of 
England  or  Ireland,  and  the  abolition  of  the  House  of 
Lords.  Government  was  vested  in  a  Council  of  State, 
and  Cromwell  was  head  of  the  army.  Milton  became 
Latin  Secretary;  and  here  begins  that  struggle  of 
twenty  years  for  the  defence  of  the  one  thing  he  holds 
dearest,  —  liberty  ;  "  religious  liberty  against  the  prel- 
ates, civil  liberty  against  the  crown,  the  liberty  of 
the  press  against  the  executive,  liberty  of  conscience 


INTRODUCTION  xvii 

against  the  Presbyterians,  and  domestic  liberty  against 
the  tyranny  of  canon  law."  The  poet  becomes  phi- 
losopher and  statesman;  and  the  glory  of  English  lit- 
erature, the  champion  and  martyr  of  English  liberty. 
As  recreation  from  the  severe  strain  of  composing  the 
prose  controversial  pamphlet,  Milton  threw  off  those 
sonnets  so  charged  with  the  personal  note  that  they 
bring  us  into  the  passion  and  the  pathos  that  consti- 
tuted his  deepest  life  during  these  memorable  years. 

The  splendid  prophecy  of  the  future  of  English 
literature  which  the  Milton  of  these  two  periods  pre- 
sents, is  that  of  intellectual  and  moral  earnestness 
revealed  in  the  highest  type  of  beauty  —  the  union  of 
sweetness  and  light. 

We  are  wont  to  give  a  too  great  proportion  of  atten- 
tion to  the  Milton  of  Paradise  Lost,  and  the  result  is  a 
belief  that  Milton  lacked  the  finer  and  sweeter  qualities 
with  which  we  associate  Spenser  and  Shakespeare. 
The  historian  has  emphasized  certain  types  of  the  Puri- 
tan revealed  in  the  political  and  religious  activity  of 
the  time,  and  has  given  us  for  the  most  part  the  formal, 
rather  than  the  real,  Puritan.  Hence  he  has  become  a 
symbol  of  an  austere,  harsh  and  canting  reformer,  who 
finds  little  in  the  nature  of  existing  politics  and  re- 
ligion which  is  to  his  mind.  And  although  between 
Clarendon  and  Macaulay  we  have  a  great  variety  of 
types,  they  severally  need  supplementing  by  a  careful 
study  of  that  furnished  by  the  Milton  of  the  Shorter 
Poems.  Here  will  be  found  nothing  of  religious  cant, 
no  hatred  of  art  and  beauty  even  when  they  are  misused, 
no  frowning  upon  wholesome  gaiety,  but  a  generous 
recognition  of  all  those  elements  that  tend  to  make  life 


x  viii  IN  TR  OD  UCTION 

stronger  in  hope,  more  perfect  in  temper,  and  finer  in 
spirit. 

The  love  of  nature  and  man,  and  the  pleasures 
afforded  by  a  life  of  ease  and  social  converse  revealed 
in  L' Allegro;  the  love  of  art  and  philosophy,  and  the 
delights  of  solitude  in  II  Penseroso;  the  tribute  paid 
to  noble  men  and  gentle  women  in  song,  action,  and  all 
the  magnificent  appointments  of  the  Masque,  with  its 
splendid  condemnation  of  the  fanaticism  of  Prynne; 
the  tender  and  delicate  passion  in  the  poems  on  Dio- 
dati ;  and  the  passion  for  liberty,  the  prayers  for 
toleration,  and  the  religious  rapture  set  in  the  strong 
framework  of  the  political  sonnets,  present  us  a  truer 
type  in  heart  and  intellect  of  that  real  Puritanism 
which  lay  beneath  the  less  attractive  manifestations. 
Here  is  the  type  of  all  that  was  deepest  and  most  per- 
manent in  English  life  between  the  luxuriousiiess  of 
the  Elizabethan  and  the  licentiousness  of  the  Eestora- 
tion. 

The  highest  note  of  the  prose  of  these  periods  con- 
firms the  revelation  of  the  verse.  "  Though  all  the 
winds  of  doctrine  were  let  loose,"  says  he  in  the 
Areopagitica,  "to  play  upon  the  earth,  so  Truth  be  in 
the  field,  we  do  injuriously  by  licensing  and  prohibit- 
ing to  misdoubt  her  strength.  Let  her  and  Falsehood 
grapple ;  who  ever  knew  Truth  put  to  the  worse  in  a 
free  and  open  encounter  ?  .  .  .  How  many  other 
things  might  be  tolerated  in  peace,  and  left  to  con- 
science, had  we  but  charity,  and  were  it  not  the  chief 
stronghold  of  our  hypocrisy  to  be  ever  judging  one 
another?" 


APPRECIATIONS 

"  NOR  second  He,  that  rode  sublime 
Upon  the  seraph-wings  of  Ecstasy, 
The  secrets  of  th'  Abyss  to  spy. 

He  pass'd  the  flaming  bounds  of  Place  and  Time : 
The  living  Throne,  the  sapphire-blaze, 
Where  Angels  tremble  while  they  gaze, 
He  saw  ;  but  blasted  with  excess  of  light, 
Closed  his  eyes  in  endless  night." 

GRAY. 

"  MILTON  !  thou  should'st  be  living  at  this  hour  : 
England  hath  need  of  thee  :  she  is  a  fen 
Of  stagnant  waters  :  altar,  sword,  and  pen, 
Fireside,  the  heroic  wealth  of  hall  and  bower, 
Have  forfeited  their  ancient  English  dower 
Of  inward  happiness.     We  are  selfish  men  ; 
Oh  !  raise  us  up,  return  to  us  again  ; 
And  give  us  manners,  virtue,  freedom,  power. 
Thy  soul  was  like  a  Star,  and  dwelt  apart : 
Thou  hadst  a  voice  whose  sound  was  like  the  sea : 
Pure  as  the  naked  heavens,  majestic,  free, 
So  didst  thou  travel  on  life's  common  way, 
In  cheerful  godliness  ;  and  yet  thy  heart 
The  lowliest  duties  on  herself  did  lay." 

WORDSWORTH. 

"  0  MIGHTY-MOUTH'D  inventor  of  harmonies, 
0  skill' d  to  sing  of  Time  or  Eternity, 
God-gifted  organ-voice  of  England, 
Milton,  a  name  to  resound  for  ages  ; 
xix 


XX  APPRECIATIONS 

Whose  Titan  angels,  Gabriel,  Abdiel, 
Starr'd  from  Jehovah's  gorgeous  armouries, 
Tower,  as  the  deep-domed  empyrean 

Rings  to  the  roar  of  an  angel  onset  — 
Me  rather  all  that  bowery  loneliness, 
The  brooks  of  Eden  mazily  murmuring, 
And  bloom  profuse  and  cedar  arches 
Charm,  as  a  wanderer  out  in  ocean, 
Where  some  refulgent  sunset  of  India 
Streams  o'er  a  rich  ambrosial  ocean  isle, 
And  crimson-hued  the  stately  palm  woods 
Whisper  in  odorous  heights  of  even." 

TENNYSON. 
"  HE  left  the  upland  lawns  and  serene  air 

Wherefrom  his  soul  her  noble  nurture  drew, 
And  reared  his  helm  among  the  unquiet  crew 
Battling  beneath  ;  the  morning  radiance  rare 
Of  his  young  brow  amid  the  tumult  there 

Grew  grim  with  sulphurous  dust  and  sanguine  dew  ; 
Yet  through  all  soilure  they  who  marked  him  knew 
The  signs  of  his  life's  day  spring,  calm  and  fair. 
But  when  peace  came,  peace  fouler  far  than  war, 
And  mirth  more  dissonant  than  battle's  tone, 
He,  with  a  scornful  sigh  of  his  clear  soul, 
Back  to  his  mountain  cloinb,  now  bleak  and  frore, 
And  with  the  awful  night  he  dwelt  alone, 
In  darkness,  listening  to  the  thunder's  roll." 

ERNEST  MYERS. 

"THE  egoism  with,  which  all  Milton's  poetry  is  im- 
pregnated is  the  egoism  of  a  glorious  nature.  If  we 
were  asked  who  in  the  eighteen  Christian  centuries 
stands  before  us  as  the  highest  approximation  to  what 
we  conceive  as  Christian  manhood,  in  which  are  rarely 
blended  purity  and  passion,  gracefulness  and  strength, 
sanctity  and  manifold  fitness  for  all  the  worldly  duties 


A  PPEECIA  TIONS  xxi 

of  the  man  and  the  citizen,  we  should  scarcely  hesitate 
to  answer  —  John  Milton." 

REV.  F.  W.  ROBERTSON. 

"  THE  genius  and  office  of  Milton  were  to  ascend  by 
the  aids  of  his  learning  and  his  religion  —  by  an 
equal  perception,  that  is,  of  the  past  and  the  future  — 
to  a  higher  insight  and  more  lively  delineation  of  the 
heroic  life  of  man.  This  was  his  poem  ;  whereof  all 
his  indignant  pamphlets  and  all  his  soaring  verses  are 
only  single  cantos  or  detached  stanzas.  It  was  plainly 
needful  that  his  poetry  should  be  a  version  of  his  own 
life,  in  order  to  give  weight  and  solemnity  to  his 
thoughts,  by  which  they  might  penetrate  and  possess 
the  imagination  and  the  will  of  mankind.  ...  His 
own  conviction  it  is  which  gives  such  authority  to  his 
strain.  Its  reality  is  its  force.  If  out  of  the  heart  it 

came,  to  the  heart  it  must  go." 

EMERSON. 

"  MILTON'S  sublimity  is  in  every  man's  mouth.  Is 
it  felt  that  his  poetry  breathes  a  sensibility  and 
tenderness  hardly  surpassed  by  its  sublimity?  We 
apprehend  that  the  grandeur  of  Milton's  mind  has 
thrown  some  shade  over  his  milder  beauties  ;  and  this 
it  has  done,  not  only  by  being  more  striking  and  impos- 
ing, but  by  the  tendency  of  vast  mental  energy  to  give 
a  certain  calmness  to  the  expression  of  tenderness  and 
deep  feeling.  A  great  mind  is  the  master  of  its  own 
enthusiasm,  and  does  not  often  break  out  into  those 
tumults  which  pass  with  many  for  the  signs  of  pro- 
found emotion.  Its  sensibility,  though  more  intense 
and  enduring,  is  more  self-possessed  and  less  per- 


XX11  APPRECIATIONS 

turbed  than  that  of  other  men,  and  is  therefore  less 
observed  and  felt,  except  by  those  who  understand, 
through  their  own  consciousness,  the  workings  and 

utterance  of  genuine  feeling." 

CHANNING. 

"MILTON'S  more  elaborate  passages  have  the  multi- 
tudinous roll  of  thunder,  dying  away  to  gather  a  sul- 
len force  again  from  its  own  reverberations,  but  he 
knew  that  the  attention  is  recalled  and  arrested  by 
those  claps  that  stop  short  without  echo  and  leave  us 
listening.  There  are  no  such  vistas  and  avenues  of 
verse  as  his.  In  reading  him  one  has  a  feeling  of 
spaciousness  such  as  no  other  poet  gives.  Milton's 
respect  for  himself  and  for  his  own  mind  and  its 
movement  rises  wellnigh  to  veneration.  He  prepares 
the  way  for  his  thought  and  spreads  on  the  ground 
before  the  sacred  feet  of  his  verse  tapestries  inwoven 
with  figures  of  mythology  and  romance.  There  is  no 

such  unfailing  dignity  as  his." 

LOWELL. 


(Moseley's  Preface  to  the  first  edition  of  Milton's  Poems,  1645.) 

"THE   STATIONER   TO   THE   EEADEE. 

"!T  is  not  any  private  respect  of  gain,  Gentle 
Reader  (for  the  slightest  Pamphlet  is  nowadays  more 
vendible  than  the  works  of  learnedest  men),  but  it  is 
the  love  I  have  to  our  own  Language,  that  hath  made 
me  delight  to  collect  and  set  forth  such  pieces,  both 
in  Prose  and  Verse,  as  may  renew  the  wonted  honour 
and  esteem  of  our  English  tongue ;  and  it's  the  worth 
of  these  both  English  and  Latin  Poems,  not  the  nour- 
ish of  any  prefixed  encomions,  that  can  invite  thee  to 
buy  them  —  though  these  are  not  without  the  highest 
commendations  and  applause  of  the  learnedest  Aca- 
demicks,  both  domestic  and  foreign,  and,  amongst  those 
of  our  own  country,  the  unparalleled  attestation  of 
that  renowned  Provost  of  Eton,  SIR  HENRY  WOOT- 
TON.  I  know  not  thy  palate,  how  it  relishes  such 
dainties,  nor  how  harmonious  thy  soul  is :  perhaps 
more  trivial  Airs  may  please  thee  better.  But,  howso- 
ever thy  opinion  is  spent  upon  these,  that  encourage- 
ment I  have  already  received  from  the  most  ingenious 
men,  in  their  clear  and  courteous  entertainment  of 
Mr.  WALLER'S  late  choice  Pieces,  hath  once  more 
made  me  adventure  into  the  world,  presenting  it  with 
these  ever-green  and  not  to  be  blasted  laurels.  The 


XXIV      PREFACE  TO   THE  FIRST  EDITION 

Author's  more  peculiar  excellency  in  these  studies 
was  too  well  known  to  conceal  his  Papers,  or  to  keep 
me  from  attempting  to  solicit  them  from  him.  Let 
the  event  guide  itself  which  way  it  will,  I  shall 
deserve  of  the  age  by  bringing  into  the  light  as  true 
a  birth  as  the  Muses  have  brought  forth  since  our 
famous  SPENSER  wrote ;  whose  Poems  in  these 
English  ones  are  as  rarely  imitated  as  sweetly  ex- 
celled. Reader,  if  thou  art  eagle-eyed  to  censure  their 
worth,  I  am  not  fearful  to  expose  them  to  thy  exactest 
perusal. 

"  Thine  to  command, 

"HUMPH.    MOSELEY." 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

PREFACE vii 

INTRODUCTION xi 

APPRECIATIONS :     .     .     .     .  xix 

MOSELEY'S  PREFACE   TO   THE   FIRST    EDITION    OF 
MILTON'S  POEMS,  1645 xxiii 

1624    A  Paraphrase  on  Psalm  cxiv .  1 

Psalm  cxxxvi 2 

1626    On  the  Death  of  a  Fair  Infant  dying  of  a  Cough      .  5 

1628  At  a  Vacation  Exercise  in  the  College 8 

1629  On  the  Morning  of  Christ's  Nativity 12 

1630  Upon  the  Circumcision 22 

The  Passion 23 

On  Time 25 

At  a  Solemn  Music 26 

Song  on  May  Morning 27 

On  Shakespeare 28 

1631  On  the  University  Carrier 28 

Another  on  the  Same 29 

An  Epitaph  on  the  Marchioness  of  Winchester   .     .  30 

On  his  having  arrived  at  the  Age  of  Twenty-three  .  33 

1633  To  the  Nightingale 33 

L' Allegro 34 

II  Penseroso 39 

1634  Arcades 45 

Comus : 

Lawes'  Dedication  to  the  Edition  of  1637     .     .49 
Sir   Henry    Wotton's    Commendatory   Letter, 

1638 49 

The  Persons 52 

The  Text  of  Comus 53 

1637    Lycidas .  87 

xxv 


XX  vi  CONTENTS 

PAGK 

1642     When  the  Assault  was  intended  to  the  City    ...  94 

1644  To  a  Virtuous  Young  Lady 94 

To  the  Lady  Margaret  Ley 95 

1645  On  the  Detraction  which  followed  upon  my  writing 

Certain  Treatises 95 

On  the  Same 96 

1646  On  the  New  Forcers  of  Conscience 97 

To  Mr.  H.  Lawes  on  his  Airs 97 

On     the     Religious    Memory    of    Mrs.    Catherine 

Thomson 98 

1648    On  the  Lord  General  Fairfax 99 

1652    To  the  Lord  General  Cromwell 99 

To  Sir  Henry  Vane  the  Younger 100 

1655    On  the  Late  Massacre  in  Piedmont 101 

On  his  Blindness 101 

To  Mr.  Lawrence 102 

To  Cyriack  Skinner 102 

To  the  Same 103 

1658     On  his  Deceased  Wife 104 

CHRONOLOGICAL 105 

THE  CAMBRIDGE  MSS 109 

NOTES Ill 

Elegia  Frima,  Ad  Carolum  Diodatum 243 

Elegia  Sexta,  Ad  Carolum  Diodatum 246 

Diodati  (e  te  '1  dir6,  etc.) 249 

Epitaphium  Damonis 250 

Cowper's  translation  of  : 

Elegy  I.     To  Charles  Deodati 258 

Elegy  VI.     To  Charles  Deodati 261 

Sonnet.    To  Charles  Deodati 264 

On  the  Death  of  Damon ,265 

NOTES  TO  POEMS  ON  DIODATI 276 

INDEX  TO  FIRST  LINES 291 

INDEX    TO   WORDS    AND    PHRASES    EXPLAINED    ix 

NOTES 293 

REFERENCES                                              298 


SHORTER  POEMS  OF  JOHN  MILTON 

A  PARAPHRASE  ON   PSALM  CXIV 

Thin  and  the  following  Psalm  were  done  &y  the  Author  at  fifteen  yeara  old 

WHEN  the  blest  seed  of  Terah's  faithful  son 

After  long  toil  their  liberty  had  won, 

And  passed  from  Pharian  fields  to  Canaan-land, 

Led  by  the  strength  of  the  Almighty's  hand, 

Jehovah's  wonders  were  in  Israel  shown, 

His  praise  and  glory  was  in  Israel  known. 

That  saw  the  troubled  sea,  and  shivering  fled, 

And  sought  to  hide  his  froth-becurled  head 

Low  in  the  earth ;  Jordan's  clear  streams  recoil, 

As  a  faint  host  that  hath  received  the  foil.  10 

The  high  huge-bellied  mountains  skip  like  rams 

Amongst  their  ewes,  the  little  hills  like  lambs. 

Why  fled  the  ocean  ?  and  why  skipped  the  mountains  ? 

Why  turned  Jordan  toward  his  crystal  fountains  ? 

Shake,  Earth,  and  at  the  presence  be  aghast 

Of  Him  that  ever  was  and  aye  shall  last, 

That  glassy  floods  from  rugged  rocks  can  crush, 

And  make  soft  rills  from  fiery  flint-stones  gush. 


SH OUTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 


PSALM   CXXXVI 

LET  us  with  a  gladsome  mind 
Praise  the  Lord  for  he  is  kind  ; 

For  his  mercies  aye  endure, 

Ever  faithful,  ever  sure. 

Let  us  blaze  his  name  abroad, 
For  of  gods  he  is  the  God ; 
For  his,  &c. 

0  let  us  his  praises  tell, 

Who  doth  the  wrathful  tyrants  quell ;          10 
For  his,  &c. 

Who  with  his  miracles  doth  make 
Amazed  heaven  and  earth  to  shake ; 
For  his,  &c. 

Who  by  his  wisdom  did  create 

The  painted  heavens  so  full  of  state ; 

For  his,  &c.  19 

Who  did  the  solid  earth  ordain 
To  rise  above  the  watery  plain ; 
For  his,  &c. 

Who,  by  his  all-commanding  might, 
Did  fill  the  new-made  world  with  light ; 
For  his,  &c. 

And  caused  the  golden-traced  sun 
All  the  day  long  his  course  to  run ;  30 

For  his,  &c. 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON  3 

The  horned  moon  to  shine  by  night 
Amongst  her  spangled  sisters  bright ; 
For  his,  &c. 

He,  with  his  thunder-clasping  hand, 
Smote  the  first-born  of  Egypt  land ; 

For  his,  &c.  39 

And,  in  despite  of  Pharao  fell, 
He  brought  from  thence  his  Israel ; 
For  his,  &c. 

The  ruddy  waves  he  cleft  in  twain 
Of  the  Erythraean  main ; 
For  his,  &c. 

The  floods  stood  still,  like  walls  of  glass, 
While  the  Hebrew  bands  did  pass ;  50 

For  his,  &c. 

But  full  soon  they  did  devour 
The  tawny  king  with  all  his  power ; 
For  his,  &c. 

His  chosen  people  he  did  bless 
In  the  wasteful  wilderness ; 

For  his,  &c.  59 

In  bloody  battle  he  brought  down 
Kings  of  prowess  and  renown; 
For  his,  &c. 

He  foiled  bold  Seon  and  his  host, 
That  ruled  the  Amorrean  coast ; 
For  his,  &c. 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

And  large  limbed  Og  he  did  subdue, 
With  all  his  over-hardy  crew ;  70 

For  his,  &c. 

And  to  his  servant  Israel 
He  gave  their  land,  therein  to  dwell ; 
For  his,  &c. 

He  hath,  with  a  piteous  eye, 
Beheld  us  in  our  misery ; 

For  his,  &c.  79 

And  freed  us  from  the  slavery 
Of  the  invading  enemy ; 
For  his,  &c. 

All  living  creatures  he  doth  feed, 
And  with  full  hand  supplies  their  need ; 
For  his,  &c. 

Let  us,  therefore,  warble  forth 
His  mighty  majesty  and  worth ;  90 

For  his,  &c. 

That  his  mansion  hath  on  high, 
Above  the  reach  of  mortal  eye ; 

For  his  mercies  aye  endure, 

Ever  faithful,  ever  sure. 


SHORTER  POEMS  OF  JOHN  MILTON 

ON   THE  DEATH   OF   A  FAIR   INFANT 
DYING   OF  A  COUGH 

Anno  cetatis  17 


O  FAIREST  flower,  no  sooner  blown  but  blasted, 
Soft  silken  primrose  fading  timelessly, 
Summer's  chief  honour,  if  thou  hadst  outlasted 
Bleak  Winter's  force  that  made  thy  blossom  dry ; 
For  he,  being  amorous  on  that  lovely  dye 

That  did  thy  cheek  envermeil,  thought  to  kiss, 
But  killed,  alas !  and  then  bewailed  his  fatal  bliss. 

ii 

For,  since  grim  Aquilo,  his  charioteer, 

By  boisterous  rape  the  Athenian  damsel  got, 

He  thought  it  touched  his  deity  full  near,  10 

If  likewise  he  some  fair  one  wedded  not, 

Thereby  to  wipe  away  the  infamous  blot 

Of  long  uncoupled  bed  and  childless  eld, 
Which  'mongst  the  wanton  gods  a  foul  reproach  was 
held. 

in 

So,  mounting  up  in  icy  pearled  car, 
Through  middle  empire  of  the  freezing  air 
He  wandered  long,  till  thee  he  spied  from  far ; 
There  ended  was  his  quest,  there  ceased  his  care : 
Down  he  descended  from  his  snow  soft  chair, 

But,  all  unwares,  with  his  cold-kind  embrace,         20 
Unhoused  thy  virgin  soul  from  her  fair  biding-place. 


b  SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

IV 

Yet  art  thou  not  inglorious  in  thy  fate ; 
For  so  Apollo,  with  unweeting  hand, 
Whilom  did  slay  his  dearly-loved  mate, 
Young  Hyacinth,  born  on  Eurotas'  strand, 
Young  Hyacinth,  the  pride  of  Spartan  land ; 

But  then  transformed  him  to  a  purple  flower : 
Alack,  that  so  to  change  thee  Winter  had  no  power ! 


Yet  can  I  not  persuade  me  thou  art  dead, 
Or  that  thy  corse  corrupts  in  earth's  dark  womb,        30 
Or  that  thy  beauties  lie  in  wormy  bed 
Hid  from  the  world  in  a  low-delved  tomb ; 
Could  Heaven,  for  pity,  thee  so  strictly  doom  ? 
Oh  no !  for  something  in  thy  face  did  shine 
Above  mortality,  that  showed  thou  wast  divine. 

VI 

Resolve  me,  then,  O  Soul  most  surely  blest 

(If  so  it  be  that  thou  these  plaints  dost  hear) ! 

Tell  me,  bright  Spirit,  where'er  thou  hoverest, 

Whether  above  that  high  first-moving  sphere, 

Or  in  the  Elysian  fields  (if  such  there  were),  40 

Oh,  say  me  true  if  thou  wert  mortal  wight, 
And  why  from  us  so  quickly  thou  didst  take  thy  flight. 

VII 

Wert  thou  some  star,  which  from  the  ruined  roof 
Of  shaked  Olympus  by  mischance  didst  fall ; 


• 

Which  c 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 


Which  careful  Jove  in  nature's  true  behoof 

Took  up,  and  in  fit  place  did  reinstal  ? 

Or  did  of  late  Earth's  sons  besiege  the  wall 

Of  sheeny  Heaven,  and  thou  some  goddess  fled 
Amongst  us  here  below  to  hide  thy.nectared  head  ? 

VIII 

Or  wert  thou  that  just  Maid  who  once  before  50 

Forsook  the  hated  earth,  oh !  tell  me  sooth, 

And  earnest  again  to  visit  us  once  more  ? 

Or  wert  thou  [Mercy],  that  sweet  smiling  Youth  ? 

Or  that  crowned  Matron,  sage  white-robed  Truth  ? 

Or  any  other  of  that  heavenly  brood 
Let  down  in  cloudy  throne  to  do  the  world  some  good  ? 

IX 

Or  wert  thou  of  the  golden-winged  host, 

Who,  having  clad  thyself  in  human  weed, 

To  earth  from  thy  prefixed  seat  didst  post, 

And  after  short  abode  fly  back  with  speed,  60 

As  if  to  show  what  creatures  Heaven  doth  breed ; 

Thereby  to  set  the  hearts  of  men  on  fire 
To  scorn  the  sordid  world,  and  unto  Heaven  aspire  ? 


But  oh !  why  didst  thou  not  stay  here  below 
To  bless  us  with  thy  heaven-loved  innocence, 
To  slake  his  wrath  whom  sin  hath  made  our  foe, 
To  turn  swift-rushing  black  perdition  hence, 
Or  drive  away  the  slaughtering  pestilence, 

To  stand  'twixt  us  and  our  deserved  smart  ? 
But  thou  canst  best  perform  that  office  where  thou  art.  70 


8  SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

XI 

Then  thou,  the  mother  of  so  sweet  a  child, 
Her  false-imagined  loss  cease  to  lament, 
And  wisely  learn  to  curb  thy  sorrows  wild ; 
Think  what  a  present  thou  to  God  hast  sent, 
And  render  him  with  patience  what  he  lent : 

This  if  thou  do,  he  will  an  offspring  give 
That  till  the  world's  last  end  shall  make  thy  name  to 
live. 


AT    A   VACATION    EXERCISE    IN    THE    COL- 
LEGE, PART   LATIN,  PAKT   ENGLISH 

Anno  cetatis  19 

The  Latin  Speeches  ended,  the  English  thus  began : 

HAIL,  Native  Language,  that  by  sinews  weak 

Didst  move  my  first  endeavouring  tongue  to  speak, 

And  mad'st  imperfect  words  with  childish  trips, 

Half  unpronounced,  slide  through  my  infant  lips, 

Driving  dumb  Silence  from  the  portal  door, 

Where  he  had  mutely  sat  two  years  before : 

Here  I  salute  thee,  and  thy  pardon  ask 

That  now  I  use  thee  in.  my  latter  task  ! 

Small  loss  it  is  that  thence  can  come  unto  thee ; 

I  know  my  tongue  but  little  grace  can  do  thee.  10 

Thou  need'st  not  be  ambitious  to  be  first ; 

Believe  me,  I  have  thither  packed  the  worst : 

And,  if  it  happen  as  I  did  forecast, 

The  daintiest  dishes  shall  be  served  up  last. 


SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON  9 

I  pray  thee  then  deny  me  not  thy  aid, 

For  this  same  small  neglect  that  I  have  made ; 

But  haste  thee  straight  to  do  me  once  a  pleasure, 

And  from  thy  wardrobe  bring  thy  chiefest  treasure ; 

Not  those  new-fangled  toys,  and  trimming  slight 

Which  takes  our  late  fantastics  with  delight ;  20 

But  cull  those  richest  robes  and  gayest  attire, 

Which  deepest  spirits  and  choicest  wits  desire. 

I  have  some  naked  thoughts  that  rove  about, 

And  loudly  knock  to  have  their  passage  out, 

And,  weary  of  their  place,  do  only  stay 

Till  thou  hast  decked  them  in  thy  best  array ; 

That  so  they  may,  without  suspect  or  fears, 

Fly  swiftly  to  this  fair  assembly's  ears. 

Yet  I  had  rather,  if  I  were  to  choose, 

Thy  service  in  some  graver  subject  use,  30 

Such  as  may  make  thee  search  thy  coffers  round, 

Before  thou  clothe  my  fancy  in  fit  sound : 

Such  where  the  deep  transported  mind  may  soar 

Above  the  wheeling  poles,  and  at  Heaven's  door 

Look  in,  and  see  each  blissful  deity 

How  he  before  the  thunderous  throne  doth  lie, 

Listening  to  what  unshorn  Apollo  sings 

To  the  touch  of  golden  wires,  while  Hebe  brings 

Immortal  nectar  to  her  kingly  sire ; 

Then,  passing  through  the  spheres  of  watchful  fire,  40 

And  misty  regions  of  wide  air  next  under, 

And  hills  of  snow  and  lofts  of  piled  thunder, 

May  tell  at  length  how  green-eyed  Neptune  raves, 

In  heaven's  defiance  mustering  all  his  waves ; 

Then  sing  of  secret  things  that  came  to  pass 

When  beldam  Nature  in  her  cradle  was ; 


10  SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

And  last  of  kings  and  queens  and  heroes  old, 

Such  as  the  wise  Demodocus  once  told 

In  solemn  songs  at  king  Alcinous'  feast, 

While  sad  Ulysses'  soul  and  all  the  rest  50 

Are  held,  with  his  melodious  harmony, 

In  willing  chains  and  sweet  captivity. 

But  fie,  my  wandering  Muse,  how  thou  dost  stray  ! 

Expectance  calls  thee  now  another  way. 

Thou  know'st  it  must  be  now  thy  only  bent 

To  keep  in  compass  of  thy  Predicament. 

Then  quick  about  thy  purposed  business  come, 

That  to  the  next  I  may  resign  my  room. 

Then  ENS  is  represented  as  Father  of  the  Predicaments, 
his  ten  Sons;  whereof  the  eldest  stood  for  SUBSTANCE 
with  his  Canons;  ivhich  Exs,  thus  speaking,  explains : 

Good  luck  befriend  thee,  Son ;  for  at  thy  birth 

The  faery  ladies  danced  upon  the  hearth.  60 

The  drowsy  nurse  hath  sworn  she  did  them  spy 

Come  tripping  to  the  room  where  thou  didst  lie, 

And,  sweetly  singing  round  about  thy  bed, 

Strew  all  their  blessings  on  thy  sleeping  head. 

She  heard  them  give  thee  this,  that  thou  shouldst  still 

From  eyes  of  mortals  walk  invisible. 

Yet  there  is  something  that  doth  force  my  fear ; 

For  once  it  was  my  dismal  hap  to  hear 

A  sibyl  old,  bow-bent  with  crooked  age, 

That  far  events  full  wisely  could  presage,  70 

And,  in  Time's  long  and  dark  prospective-glass, 

Foresaw  what  future  days  should  bring  to  pass. 

"  Your  son,"  said  she,  "  (nor  can  you  it  prevent,) 

Shall  subject  be  to  many  an  Accident. 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MlLTON          11 


O'er  all  his  brethren  he  shall  reign  as  king ; 
Yet  every  one  shall  make  him  underling, 
And  those  that  cannot  live  from  him  asunder 
Ungratefully  shall  strive  to  keep  him  under. 
In  worth  and  excellence  he  shall  outgo  them ; 
Yet,  being  above  them,  he  shall  be  below  them.          80 
"  From  others  he  shall  stand  in  need  of  nothing, 
Yet  on  his  brothers  shall  depend  for  clothing. 
To  find  a  foe  it  shall  not  be  his  hap, 
And  peace  shall  lull  him  in  her  flowery  lap ; 
Yet  shall  he  live  in  strife,  and  at  his  door 
Devouring  war  shall  never  cease  to  roar ; 
Yea,  it  shall  be  his  natural  property 
To  harbour  those  that  are  at  enmity." 
What  power,  what  force,  what  mighty  spell,  if  not 
Your  learned  hands,  can  loose  this  Gordian  knot  ?     90 

The  next,  QUANTITY  and  QUALITY,  spake  in  prose :  then 
RELATION  was  called  by  his  name. 

Rivers,  arise:  whether  thou  be-the  son 

Of  utmost  Tweed,  or  Ouse,  or  gulfy  Dun, 

Or  Trent,  who,  like  some  earth-born  giant,  spreads 

His  thirty  arms  along  the  indented  meads, 

Or  sullen  Mole,  that  runneth  underneath, 

Or  Severn  swift,  guilty  of  maiden's  death, 

Or  rocky  Avon,  or  of  sedgy  Lea, 

Or  coaly  Tyne,  or  ancient  hallowed  Dee, 

Or  Humber  loud,  that  keeps  the  Scythian's  name, 

Or  Medway  smooth,  or  royal-towered  Thame.  100 

The  rest  was  prose. 


12          SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

ON  THE  MORNING   OF   CHRIST'S  NATIVITY 

Composed  1629 
I 

THIS  is  the  month,  and  this  the  happy  morn, 
Wherein  the  Son  of  Heaven's  eternal  King, 
Of  wedded  maid  and  virgin  mother  born, 
Our  great  redemption  from  above  did  bring ; 
For  so  the  holy  sages  once  did  sing, 

That  he  our  deadly  forfeit  should  release, 
And  with  his  Father  work  us  a  perpetual  peace. 

ii 

That  glorious  form,  that  light  unsufferable, 

And  that  far-beaming  blaze  of  majesty, 

Wherewith  he  wont  at  Heaven's  high  council-table    10 

To  sit  the  midst  of  Trinal  Unity, 

He  laid  aside,  and,  here  with  us  to  be, 

Forsook  the  courts  of  everlasting  day, 
And  chose  with  us  a  darksome  house  of  mortal  clay. 

in 

Say,  Heavenly  Muse,  shall  not  thy  sacred  vein 

Afford  a  present  to  the  Infant  God  ? 

Hast  thou  no  verse,  no  hymn,  or  solemn  strain, 

To  welcome  him  to  this  his  new  abode, 

Now  while  the  heaven,  by  the  Sun's  team  untrod, 

Hath  took  no  print  of  the  approaching  light,  20 

And  all  the  spangled  host  keep  watch  in  squadrons 
bright  ? 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON         13 

IV 

See  how  from  far  upon  the  eastern  road 

The  star-led  wizards  haste  with  odours  sweet ! 

Oh  !  run ;  prevent  them  with  thy  humble  ode, 

And  lay  it  lowly  at  his  blessed  feet ; 

Have  thou  the  honour  first  thy  Lord  to  greet, 

And  join  thy  voice  unto  the  Angel  Quire, 
From  out  his  secret  altar  touched  with  hallowed  fire. 


THE  HYMN 


It  was  the  winter  wild, 

While  the  heaven-born  child  30 

All  meanly  wrapt  in  the  rude  manger  lies ; 
Nature,  in  awe  to  him, 
Had  doffed  her  gaudy  trim, 
With  her  great  Master  so  to  sympathize : 
It  was  no  season  then  for  her 
To  wanton  with  the  Sun,  her  lusty  paramour. 

ii 

Only  with  speeches  fair 
She  woos  the  gentle  air 
To  hide  her  guilty  front  with  innocent  snow, 

And  on  her  naked  shame,  !   •     40 

Pollute  with  sinful  blame, 
The  saintly  veil  of  maiden  white  to  throw ; 
Confounded,  that  her  Maker's  eyes 
Should  look  so  near  upon  her  foul  deformities. 


14  SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 


III 


But  he,  her  fears  to  cease, 
Sent  down  the  meek-eyed  Peace  : 
She,  crowned  with  olive  green,  came  softly  sliding 
Down  through  the  turning  sphere, 
His  ready  harbinger, 

With  turtle  wing  the  amorous  clouds  dividing ;      so 
And,  waving  wide  her  myrtle  wand, 
She  strikes  a  universal  peace  through  sea  and  land. 


IV 

No  war,  or  battle's  sound, 
Was  heard  the  world  around ; 
The  idle  spear  and  shield  were  high  uphung ; 
The  hooked  chariot  stood, 
Unstained  with  hostile  blood ; 
The  trumpet  spake  not  to  the  armed  throng ; 
And  kings  sat  still  with  awful  eye, 
As  if  they  surely  knew  their  sovran  Lord  was  by.      60 


But  peaceful  was  the  night 
Wherein  the  Prince  of  Light 
His  reign  of  peace  upon  the  earth  began. 
The  winds,  with  wonder  whist, 
Smoothly  the  waters  kissed, 
Whispering  new  joys  to  the  mild  Ocean, 
Who  now  hath  quite  forgot  to  rave, 
While  birds  of  calm  sit  brooding  on  the  charmed  wave. 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          15 

VI 

The  stars,  with  deep  amaze, 

Stand  fixed  in  steadfast  gaze,  70 

Bending  one  way  their  precious  influence, 
And  will  not  take  their  flight, 
For  all  the  morning  light, 
Or  Lucifer  that  often  warned  them  thence ; 
But  in  their  glimmering  orbs  did  glow, 
Until  their  Lord  himself  bespake,  and  bid  them  go. 


VII 

And,  though  the  shady  gloom 
Had  given  day  her  room, 
The  Sun  himself  withheld  his  wonted  speed, 

And  hid  his  head  for  shame,  80 

As  his  inferior  flame 

The  new-enlightened  world  no  more  should  need : 
He  saw  a  greater  Sun  appear 
Than  his  bright  throne  or  burning  axletree  could  bear. 


VIII 

The  shepherds  on  the  lawn, 
Or  ere  the  point  of  dawn, 
Sat  simply  chatting  in  a  rustic  row;- 

Full  little  thought  they  than  / 

That  the  mighty  Pan 

Was  kindly  come  to  live  with  them  below  :  90 

Perhaps  their  loves,  or  else  their  sheep, 
Was  all  that  did  their  silly  thoughts  so  busy  keep. 


16          SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

IX 

When  such  music  sweet 
Their  hearts  and  ears  did  greet 
As  never  was  by  mortal  finger  strook, 
Divinely-warbled  voice 
Answering  the  stringed  noise, 
As  all  their  souls  in  blissful  rapture  took : 
The  air,  such  pleasure  loth  to  lose,  99 

With  thousand  echoes  still  prolongs  each  heavenly 
close. 


Nature,  that  heard  such  sound 
Beneath  the  hollow  round 
Of  Cynthia's  seat  the  Airy  region  thrilling, 
Now  was  almost  won 
To  think  her  part  was  done, 
And  that  her  reign  had  here  its  last  fulfilling : 
She  knew  such  harmony  alone 
Could  hold  all  Heaven  and  Earth  in  happier  union. 


XI 

At  last  surrounds  their  sight 
A  globe  of  circular  light,  no 

That  with  long  beams  the  shamefaced  Night  arrayed ; 
The  helmed  cherubim 
And  sworded  seraphim 

Are  seen  in  glittering  ranks  with  wings  displayed, 
Harping  in  loud  and  solemn  quire, 
With  unexpressive  notes,  to  Heaven's  new-born  Heir. 


:IOETER   POEM 8   OF  JOHN  MILTON          17 
XII 
music  (as  'tis  said) 
Before  was  never  made, 
But  when  of  old  the  Sons  of  Morning  sung, 

While  the  Creator  great  120 

His  constellations  set, 

And  the  well-balanced  World  on  hinges  hung, 
And  cast  the  dark  foundations  deep, 
And  bid  the  weltering  waves  their  oozy  channel  keep. 


XIII 

King  out,  ye  crystal  spheres ! 
Once  bless  our  human  ears, 
If  ye  have  power  to  touch  our  senses  so ; 
And  let  your  silver  chime 
Move  in  melodious  time  ; 

And  let  the  bass  of  heaven's  deep  organ  blow ;      130 
And  with  your  ninefold  harmony 
Make  up  full  consort  to  the  angelic  symphony. 


XIV 

For,  if  such  holy  song 
Enwrap  our  fancy  long, 

Time  will  run  back  and  fetch  the  Age  of  Gold ; 
And  speckled  Vanity 
Will  sicken  soon  and  die, 
And  leprous  Sin  will  melt  from  earthly  mould ; 
And  Hell  itself  will  pass  away, 

And  leave  her  dolorous  mansions  to  the  peering  day.  140 
c 


18          SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

XV 

Yea,  Truth  and  Justice  then 
Will  down  return  to  men, 
Orbed  in  a  rainbow ;  and,  like  glories  wearing, 
Mercy  will  sit  between, 
Throned  in  celestial  sheen, 

With  radiant  feet  the  tissued  clouds  down  steering ; 
And  Heaven,  as  at  some  festival, 
Will  open  wide  the  gates  of  her  high  palace-hall. 


XVI 

But  wisest  Fate  says  No, 

This  must  not  yet  be  so ;  150 

The  Babe  yet  lies  in  smiling  infancy 
That  on  the  bitter  cross 
Must  redeem  our  loss, 
So  both  himself  and  us  to  glorify : 
Yet  first,  to  those  ychained  in  sleep, 
The  wakeful  trump  of  doom  must  thunder  through 
the  deep, 

XVII 

With  such  a  horrid  clang 
As  on  Mount  Sinai  rang, 

While  the  red  fire  and  smouldering  clouds  outbrake  : 
The  aged  Earth,  aghast  100 

With  terror  of  that  blast, 
Shall  from  the  surface  to  the  centre  shake, 
When,  at  the  world's  last  session, 
The  dreadful  Judge  in  middle  air  shall  spread  his 
throne. 


SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          19 


XVIII 


And  then  at  last  our  bliss 
Full  and  perfect  is, 

But  now  begins ;  for  from  this  happy  day 
The  Old  Dragon  under  ground, 
In  straiter  limits  bound, 

Not  half  so  far  casts  his  usurped  sway,  170 

And,  wroth  to  see  his  kingdom  fail, 
Swinges  the  scaly  horror  of  his  folded  tail. 

XIX 

The  Oracles  are  dumb; 
No  voice  or  hideous  hum 

Runs  through  the  arched  roof  in  words  deceiving. 
Apollo  from  his  shrine 
Can  no  more  divine, 

With  hollow  shriek  the  step  of  Delphos  leaving. 
No  nightly  trance,  or  breathed  spell,  179 

Inspires  the  pale-eyed  priest  from  the  prophetic  cell. 

xx 

The  lonely  mountains  o'er, 
And  the  resounding  shore, 
A  voice  of  weeping  heard  and  loud  lament ; 
From  haunted  spring,  and  dale 
Edged  with  poplar  pale, 
The  parting  Genius  is  with  sighing  sent ; 
With  flower-inwoven  tresses  torn 
The  Nymphs  in  twilight  shade  of  tangled  thickets 
mourn. 


20          SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

XXI 

In  consecrated  earth, 

And  on  the  holy  hearth,  190 

The  Lars  and  Lemures  moan  with  midnight  plaint ; 
In  urns,  and  altars  round, 
A  drear  and  dying  sound 
Affrights  the  flamens  at  their  service  quaint ; 
And  the  chill  marble  seems  to  sweat, 
While  each  peculiar  power  forgoes  his  wonted  seat. 


XXII 

Peor  and  Baalim 
Forsake  their  temples  dim, 
With  that  twice-battered  god  of  Palestine ; 

And  mooned  Ashtaroth,  200 

Heaven's  queen  and  mother  both, 
Now  sits  not  girt  with  tapers'  holy  shine  : 
The  Libyc  Hammon  shrinks  his  horn ; 
In  vain  the  Tyrian  maids  their  wounded  Thammuz 
mourn. 

XXIII 

And  sullen  Moloch,  fled, 
Hath  left  in  shadows  dread 
His  burning  idol  all  of  blackest  hue ; 
In  vain  with  cymbals'  ring 
They  call  the  grisly  king, 

In  dismal  dance  about  the  furnace  blue ;  210 

The  brutish  gods  of  Nile  as  fast, 
Isis,  and  Orus,  and  the  dog  Anubis,  haste. 


:HORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          21 
XXIV 
is  Osiris  seen 
In  Memphian  grove  or  green, 

Trampling  the  unshowered  grass  with  lowings  loud ; 
Nor  can  he  .be  at  rest 
Within  his  sacred  chest ; 

Nought  but  profoundest  Hell  can  be  his  shroud ; 
In  vain,  with  timbreled  anthems  dark, 
The  sable-stoled  sorcerers  bear  his  worshiped  ark.    220 


xxv 

He  feels  from  Juda's  land 
The  dreaded  Infant's  hand ; 
The  rays  of  Bethlehem  blind  his  dusky  eyn ; 
Nor  all  the  gods  beside 
Longer  dare  abide, 

Not  Typhon  huge  ending  in  snaky  twine : 
Our  Babe,  to  show  his  Godhead  true, 
Can  in  his  swaddling  bands  control  the  damned  crew. 

XXVI 

So,  when  the  sun  in  bed, 

Curtained  with  cloudy  red,  230 

Pillows  his  chin  upon  an  orient  wave, 
The  flocking  shadows  pale 
Troop  to  the  infernal  jail, 
Each  fettered  ghost  slips  to  his  several  grave, 
And  the  yellow-skirted  fays 

Fly  after  the  night-steeds,  leaving  their  moon-loved 
maze. 


22          SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

XXVII 

But  see  !  the  Virgin  blest 
Hath  laid  her  Babe  to  rest. 

Time  is  our  tedious  song  should  here  have  ending: 
Heaven's  youngest-teemed  star  240 

Hath  fixed  her  polished  car, 

Her  sleeping  Lord  with  handmaid  lamp  attending ; 
And  all  about  the  courtly  stable 
Bright-harnessed  Angels  sit  in  order  serviceable. 


UPON  THE   CIRCUMCISION 

YE  flaming  Powers,  and  winged  Warriors  bright, 
That  erst  with  music,  and  triumphant  song, 
First  heard  by  happy  watchful  shepherds'  ear, 
So  sweetly  sung  your  joy  the  clouds  along, 
Through  the  soft  silence  of  the  listening  night, 
Now  mourn ;  and,  if  sad  share  with  us  to  bear 
Your  fiery  essence  can  distil  no  tear, 
Burn  in  your  sighs,  and  borrow 
Seas  wept  from  our  deep  sorrow. 

He  who  with  all  Heaven's  heraldry  whilere  10 

Entered  the  world  now  bleeds  to  give  us  ease. 
Alas  !  how  soon  our  sin 
Sore  doth  begin 

His  infancy  to  seize ! 

0  more  exceeding  love,  or  law  more  just  ? 
Just  law,  indeed,  but  more  exceeding  love ! 
For  we,  by  rightful  doom  remediless, 


SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN   MILTON          23 

Were  lost  in  death,  till  lie,  that  dwelt  above 
High-throned  in  secret  bliss,  for  us  frail  dust 
Emptied  his  glory,  even  to  nakedness ;  20 

And  that  great  covenant  which  we  still  transgress 
Entirely  satisfied, 
And  the  full  wrath  beside 
Of  vengeful  justice  bore  for  our  excess, 
And  seals  obedience  first  with  wounding  smart 
This  day ;  but  oh  !  ere  long, 
Huge  pangs  and  strong 

Will  pierce  more  near  his  heart. 


THE   PASSION 

i 

EREWHILE  of  music,  and  ethereal  mirth, 
Wherewith  the  stage  of  Air  and  Earth  did  ring, 
And  joyous  news  of  heavenly  Infant's  birth, 
My  muse  with  Angels  did  divide  to  sing ; 
But  headlong  joy  is  ever  on  the  wing, 

In  wintry  solstice  like  the  shortened  light 
Soon  swallowed  up  in  dark  and  long  outliving  night. 

n 

For  now  to  sorrow  must  I  tune  my  song, 

And  set  my  harp  to  notes  of  saddest  woe, 

Which  on  our  dearest  Lord  did  seize  ere  long,  10 

Dangers,,  and  snares,  and  wrongs,  and  worse  than  so, 

Which  he  for  us  did  freely  undergo : 

Most  perfect  Hero,  tried  in  heaviest  plight 
Of  labours  huge  and  hard,  too  hard  for  human  wight ! 


24          SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

III 

He,  sovran  Priest,  stooping  his  regal  head, 
That  dropt  with  odorous  oil  down  his  fair  eyes, 
Poor  fleshly  tabernacle  entered, 
His  starry  front  low-roofed  beneath  the  skies : 
Oh,  what  a  mask  was  there,  what  a  disguise ! 

Yet  more  :  the  stroke  of  death  he  must  abide  ;        20 
Then  lies  him  meekly  down  fast  by  his  brethren's  side. 

IV 

These  latest  scenes  confine  my  roving  verse ; 
To  this  horizon  is  my  Phoebus  bound. 
His  godlike  acts,  and  his  temptations  fierce, 
And  former  sufferings,  otherwhere  are  found ; 
Loud  o'er  the  rest  Cremona's  trump  doth  sound : 

Me  softer  airs  befit,  and  softer  strings 
Of  lute,  or  viol  still,  more  apt  for  mournful  things. 


Befriend  me,  Night,  best  patroness  of  grief ! 

Over  the  pole  thy  thickest  mantle  throw,  ao 

And  work  my  flattered  fancy  to  belief 

That  heaven  and  earth  are  coloured  with  my  woe ; 

My  sorrows  are  too  dark  for  day  to  know : 

The  leaves  should  all  be  black  whereon  I  write, 
And  letters,  where  my  tears  have  washed,  a  wannish 
white. 

VI 

See,  see  the  chariot,  and  those  rushing  wheels, 
That  whirled  the  prophet  up  at  Chebar  flood ; 
My  spirit  some  transporting  cherub  feels 


, 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          25 

To  bear  me  where  the  towers  of  Salem  stood, 

Once  glorious  towers,  now  sunk  in  guiltless  blood.     40 

There  doth  my  soul  in  holy  vision  sit, 
In  pensive  trance,  and  anguish,  and  ecstatic  fit. 

VII 

Mine  eye  hath  found  that  sad  sepulchral  rock 
That  was  the  casket  of  Heaven's  richest  store, 
And  here,  though  grief  my  feeble  hands  up-lock, 
Yet  on  the  softened  quarry  would  I  score 
My  plaining  verse  as  lively  as  before ; 

For  sure  so  well  instructed  are  my  tears 
That  they  would  fitly  fall  in  ordered  characters. 

VIII 

Or,  should  I  thence,  hurried  on  viewless  wing,  50 

Take  up  a  weeping  on  the  mountains  wild, 
The  gentle  neighbourhood  of  grove  and  spring 
Would  soon  unbosom  all  their  echoes  mild ; 
And  I  (for  grief  is  easily  beguiled) 

Might  think  the  infection  of  my  sorrows  loud 
Had  got  a  race  of  mourners  on  some  pregnant  cloud. 

This  Subject  the  Author  finding  to  be  above  the  years  fie  had  when  he  wrote 
it,  and  nothing  satisfied  with  what  was  begun,  left  it  unfinished. 


ON   TIME 

FLY,  envious  Time,  till  thou  run  out  thy  race : 
Call  on  the  lazy  leaden-stepping  Hours, 
Whose  speed  is  but  the  heavy  plummet's  pace ; 
And  gut  thyself  with  what  thy  womb  devours, 


26          SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Which  is  no  more  than  what  is  false  and  vain, 

And  merely  mortal  dross ; 

So  little  is  our  loss, 

So  little  is  thy  gain ! 

For,  whenas  each  thing  bad  thou  hast  entombed, 

And,  last  of  all,  thy  greedy  self  consumed,  10 

Then  long  Eternity  shall  greet  our  bliss 

With  an  individual  kiss, 

And  Joy  shall  overtake  us  as  a  flood ; 

When  every  thing  that  is  sincerely  good 

And  perfectly  divine, 

With  Truth,  and  Peace,  and  Love,  shall  ever  shine 

About  the  supreme  throne 

Of  Him,  to  whose  happy-making  sight  alone 

When  once  our  heavenly-guided  soul  shall  climb, 

Then,  all  this  earthy  grossness  quit,  20 

Attired  with  stars  we  shall  for  ever  sit, 

Triumphing  over  Death,  and  Chance,  and  thee,  0 
Time ! 


AT   A  SOLEMN  MUSIC 

BLEST  pair  o^  Sirens,  pledges  of  Heaven's  joy, 

Sphere-born  harmonious  sisters,  Voice  and  Verse, 

Wed  your  divine  sounds,  and  mixed  power  employ, 

Dead  things  with  inbreathed  sense  able  to  pierce  ; 

And  to  our  high-raised  phantasy  present 

That  undisturbed  song  of  pure  concent, 

Aye  sung  before  the  sapphire-coloured  throne 

To  Him  that  sits  thereon, 

With  saintly  shout  and  solemn  jubilee ; 

Where  the  bright  Seraphim  in  burning  row  10 


SHORTER  POEM '8   OF  JOHN  MILTON          21 

Their  loud  uplifted  angel-trumpets  blow, 

And  the  Cherubic  host  in  thousand  quires 

Touch  their  immortal  harps  of  golden  wires, 

With  those  just  Spirits  that  wear  victorious  palms, 

Hymns  devout  and  holy  psalms 

Singing  everlastingly : 

That  we  on  Earth,  with  undiscording  voice, 

May  rightly  answer  that  melodious  noise ; 

As  once  we  did,  till  disproportioned  sin 

Jarred  against  nature's  chime,  and  with  harsh  din     20 

Broke  the  fair  music  that  all  creatures  made 

To  their  great  Lord,  whose  love  their  motion  swayed 

In  perfect  diapason,  whilst  they  stood 

In  first  obedience,  and  their  state  of  good. 

O,  may  we  soon  again  renew  that  song, 

And  keep  in  tune  with  Heaven,  till  God  ere  long 

To  his  celestial  consort  us  unite, 

To  live  with  Him,  and  sing  in  endless  morn  of  light ! 


SONG  ON  MAY  MORNING 

Now  the  bright  morning-star,  Day's  harbinger, 
Comes  dancing  from  the  east,  and  leads  with  her 
The  flowery  May,  who  from  her  green  lap  throws 
The  yellow  cowslip  and  the  pale  primrose. 

Hail,  bounteous  May,  that  dost  inspire 

Mirth,  and  youth,  and  warm  desire  ! 

Woods  and  groves  are  of  thy  dressing ; 

Hill  and  dale  doth  boast  thy  blessing. 
Thus  we  salute  thee  with  our  early  song, 
And  welcome  thee,  and  wish  thee  long.  10 


28  SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 


ON   SHAKESPEARE     1630 

WHAT  needs  my  Shakespeare  for  his  honoured  bones 

The  latibur  of  an  age  in  piled  stones  ? 

Or  that  his  hallowed  reliques  should  be  hid 

Under  a  star-ypointing  pyramid  ? 

Dear  son  of  memory,  great  heir  of  fame, 

What  need'st  thou  such  weak  witness  of  thy  name  ? 

Thou  in  our  wonder  and  astonishment 

Hast  built  thyself  a  livelong  monument. 

For  whilst,  to  the  shame  of  slow-endeavoring  art, 

Thy  easy  numbers  flow,  and  that  each  heart  10 

Hath  from  the  leaves  of  thy  unvalued  book 

Those  Delphic  lines  with  deep  impression  took, 

Then  thou,  our  fancy  of  itself  bereaving, 

Dost  make  us  marble  with  too  much  conceiving, 

And  so  sepulchred  in  such  pomp  dost  lie 

That  kings  for  such  a  tomb  would  wish  to  die. 


ON   THE   UNIVERSITY   CARRIER, 

Who  sickened  in  the  time  of  his  Vacancy,  being  forbid  to  go  to  London  by 
reason  of  the  Plague 

HERE  lies  old  Hobson.     Death  hath  broke  his  girt, 
And  here,  alas !  hath  laid  him  in  the  dirt ; 
Or  else,  the  ways  being  foul,  twenty  to  one 
He's  here  stuck  in  a  slough,  and  overthrown. 
'Twas  such  a  shifter  that,  if  truth  were  known, 
Death  was  half  glad  when  he  had  got  him  down ; 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          29 

For  he  had  any  time  this  ten  years  full 

Dodged  with  him  betwixt  Cambridge  and  The  Bull. 

And  surely  Death  could  never  have  prevailed, 

Had  not  his  weekly  course  of  carriage  failed;  10 

But  lately,  finding  him  so  long  at  home, 

And  thinking  now  his  journey's  end  was  come, 

And  that  he  had  ta'en  up  his  latest  inn, 

In  the  kind  office  of  a  chamberlin 

Showed  him  his  room  where  he  must  lodge  that  night, 

Pulled  off  his  boots,^ind  took  away  the  light. 

If  any  ask  for  him,  it  shall  be  said, 

"  Hobson  has  supped,  ami's  newly  gone  to  bed." 


ANOTHER   ON   THE   SAME 

HERE  lieth  one  who  did  most  truly  prove 

That  he  could  never  die  while  he  could  move; 

So  hung  his  destiny,  never  to  rot 

While  he  might  still  jog  on  and  keep  his  trot; 

Made  of  sphere-metal,  never  to  decay 

Until  his  revolution  was  at  stay. 

Time  numbers  motion,  yeb  (without  a  crime 

'Gainst  old  truth)  motion  numbered  out  his  time ; 

And,  like  an  engine  moved  with  wheel  and  weight, 

His  principles  being  ceased,  he  ended  straight.  10 

Rest,  that  gives  all  men  life,  gave  him  his  death, 

And  too  much  breathing  put  him  out  of  breath ; 

Nor  were  it  contradiction  to  affirm 

Too  long  vacation  hastened  on  his  term. 


30          SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Merely  to  drive  the  time  away  he  sickened, 

Fainted,  and  died,  nor  would  with  ale  be  quickened. 

"  Nay,"  quoth  he,  on  his  swooning  bed  outstretched, 

"  If  I  mayn't  carry,  sure  I'll  ne'er  be  fetched, 

But  vow,  though  the  cross  doctors  all  stood  hearers, 

For  one  carrier  put  down  to  make  six  bearers."          20 

Ease  was  his  chief  disease ;.  and,  to  judge  right, 

He  died  for  heaviness  that  his  cart  went  light. 

His  leisure  told  him  that  his  time  was  come, 

And  lack  of  load  made  his  life  burdensome, 

That  even  to  his  last  breath  (there  be  that  say't), 

As  he  were  pressed  to  death,  he  cried,  "  More  weight ! '' 

But,  had  his  doings  lasted  as  they  were, 

He  had  been  an  immortal  carrier. 

Obedient  to  the  moon  he  spent  his  date 

In  course  reciprocal,  and  had  his  fate  30 

Linked  to  the  mutual  flowing  of  the  seas ; 

Yet  (strange  to  think)  his  wain  was  his  increase. 

His  letters  are  delivered  all  and  gone ; 

Only  remains  this  superscription. 


AN    EPITAPH    ON    THE    MARCHIONESS    OF 
WINCHESTER 

THIS  rich  marble  doth  inter 

The  honoured  wife  of  Winchester, 

A  Viscount's  daughter,  an  Earl's  heir, 

Besides  what  her  virtues  fair 

Added  to  her  noble  birth, 

More  than  she  could  own  from  Earth. 


SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 


31 


Summers  three  times  eight  save  one 

She  had  told  ;  alas  !  too  soon, 

After  so  short  time  of  breath, 

To  house  with  darkness  and  with  death !          10 

Yet,  had  the  number  of  her  days 

Been  as  complete  as  was  her  praise, 

Nature  and  Fate  had  had  no  strife 

In  giving  limit  to  her  life. 

Her  high  birth  and  her  graces  sweet 

Quickly  found  a  lover  meet ; 

The  virgin  quire  for  her  request 

The  god  that  sits  at  marriage-feast ; 

He  at  their  invoking  came, 

But  with  a  scarce  well-lighted  flame ;  20 

And  in  his  garland,  as  he  stood, 

Ye  might  discern  a  cypress-bud. 

Once  had  the  early  matrons  run 

To  greet  her  of  a  lovely  son, 

And  now  with  second  hope  she  goes, 

And  calls  Lucina  to  her  throes ; 

But,  whether  by  mischance  or  blame, 

Atropos  for  Lucina  came, 

And  with  remorseless  cruelty 

Spoiled  at  once  both  fruit  and  tree.  30 

The  hapless  babe  before  his  birth 

Had  burial,  not  yet  laid  in  earth ; 

And  the  languished  mother's  womb 

Was  not  long  a  living  tomb. 

So  have  I  seen  some  tender  slip, 

Saved  with  care  from  winter's  nip, 

The  pride  of  her  carnation  train, 

Plucked  up  by  some  unheedy  swain, 


32  SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Who  only  thought  to  crop  the  flower 

New  shot  up  from  vernal  shower ;  40 

But  the  fair  blossom  hangs  the  head 

Sideways,  as  on  a  dying  bed, 

And  those  pearls  of  dew  she  wears 

Prove  to  be  pressaging  tears 

Which  the  sad  morn  had  let  fall 

On  her  hastening  funeral. 

Gentle  Lady,  may  thy  grave 

Peace  and  quiet  ever  have ! 

After  this  thy  travail  sore, 

Sweet  rest  seize  thee  evermore,  50 

That,  to  give  the  World  increase, 

Shortened  hast  thy  own  life's  lease ! 

Here,  besides  the  sorrowing 

That  thy  noble  house  doth  bring, 

Here  be  tears  of  perfect  moan 

Weept  for  thee  in  Helicon ; 

And  some  flowers  and  some  bays 

For  thy  hearse,  to  strew  the  ways, 

Sent  thee  from  the  banks  of  Came, 

Devoted  to  thy  virtuous  name ;  60 

Whilst  thou,  bright  Saint,  high  sitt'st  in  glory, 

Next  her,  much  like  to  thee  in  story, 

That  fair  Syrian  shepherdess, 

Who,  after  years  of  barrenness, 

The  highly-favored  Joseph  bore 

To  him  that  served  for  her  before, 

And  at  her  next  birth,  much  like  thee, 

Through  pangs  fled  to  felicity, 

Far  within  the  bosom  bright 

Of  blazing  Majesty  and  Light':  70 


mORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN   MILTON          33 

There  with  thee,  new-welcome  Saint, 
Like  fortunes  may  her  soul  acquaint, 
With  thee  there  clad  in  radiant  sheen, 
No  Marchioness,  but  now  a  Queen. 


ON   HIS   HAVING   ARRIVED   AT   THE   AGE 
OF   TWENTY-THREE 

[ow  soon  hath  Time,  the  subtle  thief  of  youth, 

Stolen  on  his  wing  my  three-and-twentieth  year ! 

My  hasting  days  fly  on  with  full  career, 

But  my  late  spring  no  bud  or  blossom  shew'th. 

Perhaps  my  semblance  might  deceive  the  truth 
That  I  to  manhood  am  arrived  so  near ; 
And  inward  ripeness  doth  much  less  appear, 
That  some  more  timely-happy  spirits  endu'th. 

Yet,  be  it  less  or  more,  or  soon  or  slow, 

It  shall  be  still  in  strictest  measure  even  10 

To  that  same  lot,  however  mean  or  high, 

Toward  which  Time  leads  me,  and  the  will  of  Heaven. 
All  is,  if  I  have  grace  to  use  it  so, 
As  ever  in  my  great  Task-Master's  eye. 


TO   THE  NIGHTINGALE 

0  NIGHTINGALE  that  on  yon  bloomy  spray 

Warble st  at  eve,  when  all  the  woods  are  still, 
Thou  with  fresh  hope  the  lover's  heart  dost  fill, 


34  SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

While  the  jolly  hours  lead  on.  propitious  May. 

Thy  liquid  notes  that  close  the  eye  of  day, 

First  heard  before  the  shallow  cuckoo's  bill, 
Portend  success  in  love.     0,  if  Jove's  will 
Have  linked  that  amorous  power  to  thy  soft  lay, 

Now  timely  sing,  ere  the  rude  bird  of  hate  9 

Foretell  my  hopeless  doom,  in  some  grove  nigh ; 
As  thou  from  year  to  year  hast  sung  too  late 

For  my  relief,  yet  hadst  no  reason  why. 

Whether  the  Muse  or  Love  call  thee  his  mate, 
Both  them  I  serve,  and  of  their  train  am  I. 


L'ALLEGBO 

HENCE,  loathed  Melancholy, 

Of  Cerberus  and  blackest  Midnight  born 
In  Stygian  cave  forlorn 

'Mongst  horrid  shapes,  and  shrieks,  and  sights  un- 
holy! 
Find  out  some  uncouth  cell, 

Where  brooding  Darkness  spreads  his  jealous  wings, 
And  the  night-raven  sings  ; 

There,  under  ebon  shades  and  low-browed  rocks, 
As  ragged  as  thy  locks, 

In  dark  Cimmerian  desert  ever  dwell.  10 

But  come,  thou  Goddess  fair  and  free, 
In  heaven  yclept  Euphrosyne, 
And  by  men  heart-easing  Mirth ; 
Whom  lovely  Venus,  at  a  birth, 


SHOE  TEE  POEMS  OF  JOHN  MILTON          35 

With  two  sister  Graces  more, 

To  ivy -crowned  Bacchus  bore : 

Or  whether  (as  some  sager  sing) 

The  frolic  wind  that  breathes  the  spring, 

Zephyr,  with  Aurora  playing, 

As  he  met  her  once  a-Maying,  20 

There,  on  beds  of  violets  blue, 

And  fresh-blown  roses  washed  in  dew, 

Filled  her  with  thee,  a  daughter  fair, 

So  buxom,  blithe,  and  debonair. 

Haste  thee,  Nymph,  and  bring  with  thee 

Jest,  and  youthful  Jollity, 

Quips  and  Cranks  and  wanton  Wiles, 

Nods  and  Becks  and  wreathed  Smiles, 

Such  as  hang  on  Hebe's  cheek, 

And  love  to  live  in  dimple  sleek ;  30 

Sport  that  wrinkled  Care  derides, 

And  Laughter  holding  both  his  sides. 

Come,  and  trip  it,  as  you  go, 

On  the  light  fantastic  toe ; 

And  in  thy  right  hand  lead  with  thee 

The  mountain-nymph,  sweet  Liberty ; 

And,  if  I  give  thee  honour  due, 

Mirth,  admit  me  of  thy  crew, 

To  live  with  her,  and  live  with  thee, 

In  unreproved  pleasure  free ;  40 

To  hear  the  lark  begin  his  flight, 

And,  singing,  startle  the  dull  night, 

From  his  watch-tower  in  the  skies, 

Till  the  dappled  dawn  doth  rise ; 

Then  to  come,  in  spite  of  sorrow, 

And  at  my  window  bid  good-morrow, 


36          SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN    MILTON 

Through  the  sweet-briar  or  the  vine, 
Or  the  twisted  eglantine ; 
While  the  cock,  with  lively  din, 
Scatters  the  rear  of  darkness  thin ;  50 

And  to  the  stack,  or  the  barn-door, 
Stoutly  struts  his  dames  before : 
Oft  listening  how  the  hounds  and  horn 
Cheerly  rouse  the  slumbering  morn, 
From  the  side  of  some  hoar  hill, 
Through  the  high  wood  echoing  shrill : 
Sometime  walking,  not  unseen, 
By  hedgerow  elms,  on  hillocks  green, 
Eight  against  the  eastern  gate 
Where  the  great  Sun  begins  his  state,  60 

Robed  in  flames  and  amber  light, 
The  clouds  in  thousand  liveries  dight ; 
While  the  ploughman,  near  at  hand, 
Whistles  o'er  the  furrowed  land, 
And  the  milkmaid  singeth  blithe, 
And  the  mower  whets  his  scythe, 
And  every  shepherd  tells  his  tale 
Under  the  hawthorn  in  the  dale. 
Straight  mine  eye  hath  caught  new  pleasures, 
Whilst  the  landskip  round  it  measures :  70 

Russet  lawns,  and  fallows  grey, 
Where  the  nibbling  flocks  do  stray ; 
.        Mountains  on  whose  barren  breast 
The  labouring  clouds  do  often  rest ; 
Meadows  trim,  with  daisies  pied ; 
Shallow  brooks,  and  rivers  wide ; 
Towers  and  battlements  it  sees 
Bosomed  high  in  tufted  trees, 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          37 

Where  perhaps  some  beauty  lies, 

The  cynosure  of  neighbouring  eyes.  80 

Hard  by  a  cottage  chimney  smokes 

From  betwixt  two  aged  oaks, 

Where  Corydon  and  Thyrsis  met 

Are  at  their  savoury  dinner  set 

Of  Jierbs  and  other  country  messes, 

Which  the  neat-handed  Phillis  dresses ; 

And  then  in  haste  her  bower  she  leaves, 

With  Thestylis  to  bind  the  sheaves ; 

Or,  if  the  earlier  season  lead, ' 

To  the  tanned  haycock  in  the  mead.  90 

Sometimes,  with  secure  delight, 

The  upland  hamlets  will  invite, 

When  the  merry  bells  ring  round, 

And  jocund  rebecks  sound 

To  many  a  youth  and  many  a  maid 

Dancing  in  the  chequered  shade, 

And  young  and  old  come  forth  to  play 

On  a  sunshine  holiday, 

Till  the  livelong  daylight  fail : 

Then  to  the  spicy  nut-brown  ale,  100 

With  stories  told  of  many  a  feat, 

How  Faery  Mab  the  junkets  eat. 

She  was  pinched  and  pulled,  she  said ; 

And  he,  by  Friar's  lantern  led, 

Tells  how  the  drudging  goblin  sweat 

To  earn  his  cream-bowl  duly  set, 

When  in  one  night,  ere  glimpse  of  morn, 

His  shadowy  flail  hath  threshed  the  corn 

That  ten  day-labourers  could  not  end ; 

Then  lies  him  down,  'the  lubber  fiend,  no 


38  SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

And,  stretched  out  all  the  chimney's  length, 

Basks  at  the  fire  his  hairy  strength, 

And  crop-full  out  of  doors  he  flings, 

Ere  the  first  cock  his  matin  rings. 

Thus  done  the  tales,  to  bed  they  creep, 

By  whispering  winds  soon  lulled  asleep. 

Towered  cities  please  us  then, 

And  the  busy  hum  of  men, 

Where  throngs  of  knights  and  barons  bold, 

In  weeds  of  peace,  high  triumphs  hold,  120 

With  store  of  ladies,  whose  bright  eyes 

Rain  influence,  and  judge  the  prize 

Of  wit  or  arms,  while  both  contend 

To  win  her  grace  whom  all  commend. 

There  let  Hymen  oft  appear 

In  saffron  robe,  with  taper  clear, 

And  pomp,  and  feast,  and  revelry, 

With  mask  and  antique  pageantry ; 

Such  sights  as  youthful  poets  dream 

On  summer  eves  by  haunted  stream.  130 

Then  to  the  well-trod  stage  anon, 

If  Jonson's  learned  sock  be  on, 

Or  sweetest  Shakespeare,  Fancy's  child, 

Warble  his  native  wood-notes  wild, 

And  ever,  against  eating  cares, 

Lap  me  in  soft  Lydian  airs, 

Married  to  immortal  verse, 

Such  as  the  meeting  soul  may  pierce, 

In  notes  with  many  a  winding  bout 

Of  linked  sweetness  long  drawn  out  140 

With  wanton  heed  and  giddy  cunning, 

The  melting  voice  "through  mazes  running, 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          39 

Untwisting  all  the  chains  that  tie 

The  hidden  soul  of  harmony  ; 

That  Orpheus'  self  may  heave  his  head 

From  golden  slumber  on  a  bed 

Of  heaped  Ely  si  an  flowers,  and  hear 

Such  strains  as  would  have  won  the  ear 

Of  Pluto  to  have  quite  set  free 

His  half-regained  Eurydice.  150 

These  delights  if  thou  canst  give, 

Mirth,  with  thee  I  mean  to  live. 


IL  PENSEROSO 

HENCE,  vain  deluding  Joys, 

The  brood  of  Folly  without  father  bred ! 
How  little  you  bested, 

Or  fill  the  fixed  mind  with  all  your  toys ! 
Dwell  in  some  idle  brain, 

And  fancies  fond  with  gaudy  shapes  possess, 
As  thick  and  numberless 

As  the  gay  motes  that  people  the  sun-beams, 
Or  likest  hovering  dreams, 

The  fickle  pensioners  of  Morpheus'  train.     10 
But,  hail !  thou  Goddess  sage  and  holy  ! 
Hail,  divinest  Melancholy ! 
Whose  saintly  visage  is  too  bright 
To  hit  the  sense  of  human  sight, 
And  therefore  to  our  weaker  view 
O'erlaid  with  black,  staid  Wisdom's  hue ; 


40          SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Black,  but  such  as  in  esteem 

Prince  Memnon's  sister  might  beseem, 

Or  that  starred  Ethiop  queen  that  strove 

To  set  her  beauty's  praise  above  20 

The  Sea-Nymphs,  and  their  powers  offended. 

Yet  thou  art  higher  far  descended : 

Thee  bright-haired  Vesta  long  of  yore 

To  solitary  Saturn  bore ; 

His  daughter  she ;  in  Saturn's  reign 

Such  mixture  was  not  held  a  stain. 

Oft  in  glimmering  bowers  and  glades 

He  met  her,  and  in  secret  shades 

Of  woody  Ida's  inmost  grove, 

Whilst  yet  there  was  no  fear  of  Jove.  30 

Come,  pensive  Nun,  devout  and  pure, 

Sober,  steadfast,  and  demure, 

All  in  a  robe  of  darkest  grain, 

Flowing  with  majestic  train, 

And  sable  stole  of  cypress  lawn 

Over  thy  decent  shoulders  drawn. 

Come ;  but  keep  thy  wonted  state, 

With  even  step,  and  musing  gait, 

And  looks  commercing  with  the  skies, 

Thy  rapt  soul  sitting  in  thine  eyes  :       •  40 

There,  held  in  holy  passion  still, 

Forget  thyself  to  marble,  till 

With  a  sad  leaden  downward  cast 

Thou  fix  them  on  the  earth  as  fast. 

And  join  with  thee  calm  Peace  and  Quiet, 

Spare  Fast,  that  oft  with  gods  doth  diet, 

And  hears  the  Muses  in  a  ring 

Aye  round  about  Jove's  altar  sing ; 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON         41 

And  add  to  these  retired  Leisure, 

That  in  trim  gardens  takes  his  pleasure ;          50 

But,  first  and  chiefest,  with  thee  bring 

Him  that  yon  soars  on  golden  wing, 

Guiding  the  fiery-wheeled  throne, 

The  Cherub  Contemplation ; 

And  the  mute  Silence  hist  along, 

'Less  Philomel  will  deign  a  song, 

In  her  sweetest  saddest  plight, 

Smoothing  the  rugged  brow  of  Night, 

While  Cynthia  checks  her  dragon  yoke 

Gently  o'er  the  accustomed  oak.  60 

Sweet  bird,  that  shunn'st  the  noise  of  folly, 

Most  musical,  most  melancholy  ! 

Thee,  chauntress,  oft  the  woods  among 

I  woo,  to  hear  thy  even-song ; 

And,  missing  thee,  I  walk  unseen 

On  the  dry  smooth-shaven  green, 

To  behold  the  wandering  moon, 

Biding  near  her  highest  noon, 

Like  one  that  had  been  led  astray 

Through  the  heaven's  wide  pathless  way,        70 

And  oft,  as  if  her  head  she  bowed, 

Stooping  through  a  fleecy  cloud. 

Oft,  on  a  plat  of  rising  ground, 

I  hear  the  far-off  curfew  sound, 

Over  some  wide-watered  shore, 

Swinging  slow  with  sullen  roar ; 

Or,  if  the  air  will  not  permit, 

Some  still  removed  place  will  fit, 

Where  glowing  embers  through  the  room 

Teach  light  to  counterfeit  a  gloom,  80 


42          SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Far  from  all  resort  of  mirth, 

Save  the  cricket  on  the  hearth, 

Or  the  bellman's  drowsy  charm 

To  bless  the  doors  from  nightly  harm. 

Or  let  my  lamp,  at  midnight  hour, 

Be  seen  in  some  high  lonely  tower, 

Where  I  may  oft  outwatch  the  Bear, 

With  thrice  great  Hermes,  or  unsphere 

The  spirit  of  Plato,  to  unfold 

What  worlds  or  what  vast  regions  hold  90 

The  immortal  mind  that  hath  forsook 

Her  mansion  in  this  fleshly  nook ; 

And  of  those  demons  that  are  found 

In  fire,  air,  flood,  or  underground, 

Whose  power  hath  a  true  consent 

With  planet  or  with  element. 

Sometime  let  gorgeous  Tragedy 

In  sceptred  pall  come  sweeping  by, 

Presenting  Thebes,  or  Pelops'  line, 

Or  the  tale  of  Troy  divine,  100 

Or  what  (though  rare)  of  later  age 

Ennobled  hath  the  buskined  stage. 

But,  0  sad  Virgin  !  that  thy  power 

Might  raise  Musaeus  from  his  bower; 

Or  bid  the  soul  of  Orpheus  sing 

Such  notes  as,  warbled  to  the  string, 

Drew  iron  tears  down  Pluto's  cheek, 

And  made  Hell  grant  what  love  did  seek ; 

Or  call  up  him  that  left  half-told 

The  story  of  Cambuscan  bold,  no 

Of  Camball,  and  of  Algarsife, 

And  who  had  Canace  to  wife, 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          43 

That  owned  the  virtuous  ring  and  glass, 

And  of  the  wondrous  horse  of  brass 

On  which  the  Tartar  king  did  ride ; 

And  if  alight  else  great  bards  beside 

In  sage  and  solemn  tunes  have  sung, 

Of  turneys,  and  of  trophies  hung, 

Of  forests,  and  enchantments  drear, 

Where  more  is  meant  than  meets  the  ear.       120 

Thus,  Night,  oft  see  me  in  thy  pale  career, 

Till  civil-suited  Morn  appear, 

Not  tricked  and  frounced,  as  she  was  wont 

With  the  Attic  boy  to  hunt, 

But  kerchieft  in  a  comely  cloud, 

While  rocking  winds  are  piping  loud, 

Or  ushered  with  a  shower  still, 

WThen  the  gust  hath  blown  his  fill, 

Ending  on  the  rustling  leaves, 

With  minute-drops  from  off  the  eaves.  130 

And,  when  the  sun  begins  to  fling 

His  flaring  beams,  me,  Goddess,  bring 

To  arched  walks  of  twilight  groves, 

And  shadows  brown,  that  Sylvan  loves, 

Of  pine,  or  monumental  oak, 

Where  the  rude  axe  with  heaved  stroke 

Was  never  heard  the  nymphs  to  daunt, 

Or  fright  them  from  their  hallowed  haunt. 

There,  in  close  covert,  by  some  brook, 

Where  no  profaner  eye  may  look,  140 

Hide  me  from  day's  garish  eye, 

While  the  bee  with  honeyed  thigh, 

That  at  her  flowery  work  doth  sing, 

And  the  waters  murmuring, 


44          SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN   MILTON 

With  such  consort  as  they  keep, 

Entice  the  dewy-feathered  Sleep. 

And  let  some  strange  mysterious  dream 

Wave  at  his  wings,  in  airy  stream 

Of  lively  portraiture  displayed, 

Softly  on  my  eyelids  laid ;  150 

And,  as  I  wake,  sweet  music  breathe 

Above,  about,  or  underneath, 

Sent  by  some  Spirit  to  mortals  good, 

Or  the  unseen  Genius  of  the  wood. 

But  let  my  due  feet  never  fail 

To  walk  the  studious  cloister's  pale, 

And  love  the  high  embowed  roof, 

With  antique  pillars  massy-proof, 

And  storied  windows  richly  dight, 

Casting  a  dim  religious  light.  160 

There  let  the  pealing  organ  blow, 

To  the  full-voiced  quire  below, 

In  service  high  and  anthems  clear, 

As  may  with  sweetness,  through  mine  ear, 

Dissolve  me  into  ecstasies, 

And  bring  all  Heaven  before  mine  eyes. 

And  may  at  last  my  weary  age 

Find  out  the  peaceful  hermitage, 

The  hairy  gown  and  mossy  cell, 

Where  I  may  sit  and  rightly  spell  170 

Of  every  star  that  heaven  doth  shew, 

And  every  herb  that  sips  the  dew, 

Till  old  experience  do  attain 

To  something  like  prophetic  strain. 

These  pleasures,  Melancholy,  give ; 

And  I  with  thee  will  choose  to  live. 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON         45 


ARCADES 

Part  of  an  Entertainment  presented  to  the  Countess 
Dowager  of  Derby  at  Harejield  by  some  Noble  Per- 
sons of  her  Family;  who  appear  on  the  Scene  in 
pastoral  habit,  moving  toward  the  seat  of  state,  with 
this  song : 

I.  Song 

LOOK,  Nymphs  and  Shepherds,  look ! 
What  sudden  blaze  of  majesty 
Is  that  which  we  from  hence  descry, 
Too  divine  to  be  mistook  ? 

This,  this  is  she 

To  whom  our  vows  and  wishes  bend : 
Here  our  solemn  search  hath  end. 
Fame,  that  her  high  worth  to  raise 
Seemed  erst  so  lavish  and  profuse, 
We  may  justly  now  accuse  10 

Of  detraction  from  her  praise : 

Less  than  half  we  find  expressed ; 

Envy  bid  conceal  the  rest. 

Mark  what  radiant  state  she  spreads, 
In  circle  round  her  shining  throne 
Shooting  her  beams  like  silver  threads : 
This,  this  is  she  alone, 

Sitting  like  a  goddess  bright 

In  the  centre  of  her  light. 

Might  she  the  wise  Latona  be,  20 

Or  the  towered  Cybele, 


46  SHORTER   POEMS    OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Mother  of  a  hundred  gods  ? 
Juno  dares  not  give  her  odds : 

Who  had  thought  this  clime  had  held 

A  deity  so  unparalleled  ? 

As   they  come  forward,  THE   GENIUS   OF   THE  WOOD 
appears,  and,  turning  toward  them,  speaks. 

Gen.  Stay,  gentle  Swains,  for,  though  in  this  disguise, 
I  see  bright  honour  sparkle  through  your  eyes ; 
Of  famous  A  ready  ye  are,  and  sprung 
Of  that  renowned  flood,  so  often  sung, 
Divine  Alpheus,  who,  by  secret  sluice,  30 

Stole  under  seas  to  meet  his  Arethuse ; 
And  ye,  the  breathing  roses  of  the  wood, 
Fair  silver-buskined  Nymphs,  as  great  and  good. 
I  know  this  quest  of  yours  and  free  intent 
Was  all  in  honour  and  devotion  meant 
To  the  great  mistress  of  yon  princely  shrine, 
Whom  with  low  reverence  I  adore  as  mine, 
And  with  all  helpful  service  will  comply 
To  further  this  night's  glad  solemnity, 
And  lead  ye  where  ye  may  more  near  behold  40 

What  shallow-searching  Fame  hath  left  untold ; 
Which  I  full  oft,  amidst  these  shades  alone, 
Have  sat  to  wonder  at,  and  gaze  upon. 
For  know,  by  lot  from  Jove,  I  am  the  Power 
Of  this  fair  wood,  and  live  in  oaken  bower, 
To  nurse  the  saplings  tall,  and  curl  the  grove 
With  ringlets  quaint  and  wanton  windings  wove ; 
And  all  my  plants  I  save  from  nightly  ill 
Of  noisome  winds  and  blasting  vapours  chill ; 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          47 


And  from  the  boughs  brush  off  the  evil  dew,  50 

And  heal  the  harms  of  thwarting  thunder  blue, 

Or  what  the  cross  dire-looking  planet  smites, 

Or  hurtful  worm  with  cankered  venom  bites. 

When  evening  grey  doth  rise,  I  fetch  my  round 

Over  the  mount,  and  all  this  hallowed  ground ; 

And  early,  ere  the  odorous  breath  of  morn 

Awakes  the  slumbering  leaves,  or  tasselled  horn 

Shakes  the  high  thicket,  haste  I  all  about, 

Number  my  ranks,  and  visit  every  sprout 

With  puissant  words  and  murmurs  made  to  bless.    60 

But  else,  in  deep  of  night,  when  drowsiness 

Hath  locked  up  mortal  sense,  then  listen  I 

To  the  celestial  Sirens'  harmony, 

That  sit  upon  the  nine  infolded  spheres, 

And  sing  to  those  that  hold  the  vital  shears, 

And  turn  the  adamantine  spindle  round 

On  which  the  fate  of  gods  and  men  is  wound. 

Such  sweet  compulsion  doth  in  music  lie, 

To  lull  the  daughters  of  Necessity, 

And  keep  unsteady  Nature  to  her  law,  70 

And  the  low  world  in  measured  motion  draw 

After  the  heavenly  tune,  which  none  can  hear 

Of  human  mould  with  gross  unpurged  ear. 

And  yet  such  music  worthiest  were  to  blaze 

The  peerless  height  of  her  immortal  praise 

Whose  lustre  leads  us,  and  for  her  most  fit, 

If  my  inferior  hand  or  voice  could  hit 

Inimitable  sounds.     Yet,  as  we  go, 

Wliate'er  the  skill  of  lesser  gods  can  show 

I  will  assay,  her  worth  to  celebrate,  80 

And  so  attend  ye  toward  her  glittering  state ; 


48          SHORTER   POEMS  OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Where  ye  may  all,  that  are  of  noble  stem, 
Approach,  and  kiss  her  sacred  vesture's  hem. 

II.  Song 

O'er  the  smooth  enamelled  green, 
Where  no  print  of  step  hath  been, 
Follow  me,  as  I  sing 
And  touch  the  warbled  string : 
Under  the  shady  roof 
Of  branching  elm  star-proof 

Follow  me.  90 

I  will  bring  you  where  she  sits, 
Clad  in  splendor  as  befits 

Her  deity. 
Such  a  rural  Queen 
All  Arcadia  hath  not  seen. 

III.  Song 
Nymphs  and  Shepherds,  dance  no  more 

By  sandy  Ladon's  lilied  banks  ; 
On  old  Lycseus,  or  Cyllene  hoar, 

Trip  no  more  in  twilight  ranks  ; 
Though  Erymanth  your  loss  deplore,  100 

A  better  soil  shall  give  ye  thanks. 
From  the  stony  Msenalus 
Bring  your  flocks,  and  live  with  us ; 
Here  ye  shall  have  greater  grace, 
To  serve  the  Lady  of  this  place. 
Though  Syrinx  your  Pan's  mistress  were, 
Yet  Syrinx  well  might  wait  on  her. 

Such  a  rural  Queen 

All  Arcadia  hath  not  seen. 


SHORTER    POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          49 
COMUS 

A    MASQUE    PRESENTED    AT    LUDLOW    CASTLE,    1634,    &C." 

>r  the  Title-pages  of  the  Editions  of  1637  and  1645  see  Notes  at  p.  174 
and  p.  175.) 

DEDICATION    OF    LAWES'    EDITION    OF    1637. 

(Reprinted  in  the  Edition  of  1645,  but  omitted  in  that  of  1673.) 

"To  the  Right  Honourable  John,  Lord  Brackley,  son  and  heir- 
apparent  to  the  Earl  of  Bridgewater,  <£c."  - 
"My  Lord, 

"This  Poem,  which  received  its  first  occasion  of 
birth  from  yourself  and  others  of  your  noble  family,  and  much 
honour  from  your  own  person  in  the  performance,  now  returns 
again  to  make  a  final  dedication  of  itself  to  you.  Although  not 
openly  acknowledged  by  the  Author,  yet  it  is  a  legitimate  off- 
spring, so  lovely  and  so  much  desired  that  the  often  copying  of 
it -hath  tired  my  pen  to  give  my  several  friends  satisfaction,  and 
brought  me  to  a  necessity  of  producing  it  to  the  public  view, 
and  now  to  offer  it  up,  in  all  rightful  devotion,  to  those  fair 
hopes  and  rare  endowments  of  your  much-promising  youth, 
which  give  a  full  assurance  to  all  that  know  you  of  a  future 
excellence.  Live,  sweet  Lord,  to  be  the  honour  of  your  name  ; 
and  receive  this  as  your  own  from  the  hands  of  him  who  hath 
by  many  favours  been  long  obliged  to  your  most  honoured 
Parents,  and,  as  in  this  representation  your  attendant  lliyrsis, 
so  now  in  all  real  expression 

"Your  faithful  and  most  humble  Servant, 

"  H.  Lawes." 

"The  Copy  of  a  Letter  written  by  Sir  Henry  Wotton  to  the 
Author  upon  the  following  poem.'1'' 

(In  the  Edition  of  1645 :  omitted  in  that  of  1673.) 

"  From  the  College,  this  13  of  April,  1638. 
"  Sir, 

u  It  was  a  special  favour  when  you  lately  bestowed 
upon  me  here  the  first  taste  of  your  acquaintance,  though  no 


50  SHORTEN   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

longer  than  to  make  me  know  that  I  wanted  more  time  to  value 
it  and  to  enjoy  it  rightly  ;  and,  in  truth,  if  I  could  then  have 
imagined  your  farther  stay  in  these  parts,  which  I  understood 
afterwards  by  Mr.  H.,  I  would  have  been  bold,  in  our  vulgar 
phrase,  to  mend  my  draught  (for  you  left  me  with  an  extreme 
thirst),  and  to  have  begged  your  conversation  again,  jointly 
with  your  said  learned  friend,  over  a  poor  meal  or  two,  that 
we  might  have  banded  together  some  good  Authors  of  the 
ancient  time ;  among  which  I  observed  you  to  have  been 
familiar. 

"  Since  your  going,  you  have  charged  me  with  new  obliga- 
tions, both  for  a  very  kind  letter  from  you  dated  the  6th  of  this 
month,  and  for  a  dainty  piece  of  entertainment  which  came 
therewith.  Wherein  I  should  much  commend  the  tragical  part, 
if  the  lyrical  did  not  ravish  me  with  a  certain  Doric  delicacy 
in  your  Songs  and  Odes,  whereunto  I  must  plainly  confess  to 
have  seen  yet  nothing  parallel  in  our  language :  Ipsa  mollitics. 
But  I  must  not  omit  to  tell  you  that  I  now  only  owe  you  thanks 
for  intimating  unto  me  (how  modestly  soever)  the  true  arti- 
ficer. For  the  work  itself  I  had  viewed  some  good  while  before 
with  singular  delight ;  having  received  it  from  our  common 
friend  Mr.  R.,  in  the  very  close  of  the  late  R.'s  Poems,  printed 
at  Oxford :  whereunto  it  was  added  (as  I  now  suppose)  that 
the  accessory  might  help  out  the  principal,  according  to  the 
art  of  Stationers,  and  to  leave  the  reader  con  la  bocca  dolce. 

"  Now,  Sir,  concerning  your  travels  ;  wherein  I  may  challenge 
a  little  more  privilege  of  discourse  with  you.  I  suppose  you 
will  not  blanch  Paris  in  your  way  :  therefore  I  have  been  bold 
to  trouble  you  with  a  few  lines  to  Mr.  M.  B.,  whom  you  shall 
easily  find  attending  the  young  Lord  S.  as  his  governor ;  and 
you  may  surely  receive  from  him  good  directions  for  the  shap- 
ing of  your  farther  journey  into  Italy  wnere  he  did  reside,  by 
my  choice,  some  time  for  the  King,  after  mine  own  recess  from 
Venice. 

"  I  should  think  that  your  best  line  will  be  through  the  whole 
length  of  France  to  Marseilles,  and  thence  by  sea  to  Genoa  ; 
whence  the  passage  into  Tuscany  is  as  diurnal  as  a  Gravesend 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          51 


barge.  I  hasten,  as  you  do,  to  Florence  or  Siena,  the  rather  to 
tell  you  a  short  story,  from  the  interest  you  have  given  me  in 
your  safety. 

"At  Siena  I  was  tabled  in  the  house  of  one  Alberto  Scipioni, 
an  old  Roman  courtier  in  dangerous  times ;  having  been  steward 
to  the  Duca  di  Pagliano,  who  with  all  his  family  were  strangled, 
save  this  only  man  that  escaped  by  foresight  of  the  tempest. 
With  him  I  had  often  much  chat  of  those  affairs,  into  which 
he  took  pleasure  to  look  back  from  his  native  harbour ;  and, 
at  my  departure  toward  Home  (which  had  been  the  centre  of 
his  experience),  I  had  won  his  confidence  enough  to  beg  his 
advice  how  J  might  carry  myself  there  without  offence  of  others 
or  of  mine  own  conscience.  '•Signor  Arrigo  mzo,'  says  he,  '  / 
pensieri  stretti  ed  il  viso  sciolto  will  go  safely  over  the  whole 
world.'  Of  which  Delphian  oracle  (for  so  I  have  found  it) 
your  judgment  doth  need  no  commentary  ;  and  therefore,  Sir, 
I  will  commit  you,  with  it,  to  the  best  of  all  securities,  God's 
dear  love,  remaining 

"  Your  friend,  as  much  to  command  as  any  of  longer  date, 

"HENRY  WOTTON." 

Postscript 

"  Sir  :  I  have  expressly  sent  this  my  footboy  to  prevent  your 
departure  without  some  acknowledgment  from  me  of  the  re- 
ceipt of  your  obliging  letter ;  having  myself  through  some  busi- 
ness, I  know  not  how,  neglected  the  ordinary  conveyance.  In 
any  part  where  I  shall  understand  you  fixed,  J  shall  be  glad 
arid  diligent  to  entertain  you  with  home -novelties,  even  for 
some  fomentation  of  our  friendship,  too  soon  interrupted  in 
the  cradle." 


52          SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON' 


THE   PERSONS 

The  ATTENDANT  SPIRIT,  afterwards  in  the  habit  of  THYRSIS. 

COMUS,  with  his  Crew. 

THE  LADY. 

FIRST  BROTHER. 

SECOND  BROTHER. 

SABRINA,  the  Nymph. 

The  Chief  Persons  which  presented  were : 

The  Lord  Brackley  ; 

Mr.  Thomas  Egerton,  his  Brother ; 

The  Lady  Alice  Egerton. 

[This  list  of  the  Persons,  &c.,  appeared  in  the  Edition  of  1645,  but  was  omitted 
in  that  of  1673.] 


SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          53 

COMUS 
TJie  first  Scene  discovers  a  wild  wood 

The  ATTENDANT  SPIRIT  descends  or  enters 

BEFORE  the  starry  threshold  of  Jove's  court 
My  mansion  is,  where  those  immortal  shapes 
Of  bright  aerial  spirits  live  insphered 
In  regions  mild  of  calm  and  serene  air, 
Above  the  smoke  and  stir  of  this  dim  spot 
Which  men  call  Earth,  and,  with  low-thoughted  care, 
Confined  and  pestered  in  this  pinfold  here, 
Strive  to  keep  up  a  frail  and  feverish  being, 
Unmindful  of  the  crown  that  Virtue  gives, 
After  this  mortal  change,  to  her  true  servants  10 

Amongst  the  enthroned  gods  on  sainted  seats. 
Yet  some  there  be  that  by  due  steps  aspire 
To  lay  their  just  hands  on  that  golden  key 
That  opes  the  palace  of  eternity. 
To  such  my  errand  is ;  and,  but  for  such, 
I  would  not  soil  these  pure  ambrosial  weeds 
With  the  rank  vapours  of  this  sin-worn  mould. 
But  to  my  task.     Neptune,  besides  the  sway 
Of  every  salt  flood  and  each  ebbing  stream, 
Took  in,  by  lot  'twixt  high  and  nether  Jove,  20 

Imperial  rule  of  all  the  sea-girt  isles 
That,  like  to  rich  and  various  gems,  inlay 
The  unadorned  bosom  of  the  deep ; 
Which  he,  to  grace  his  tributary  gods, 
By  course  commits  to  several  government, 


54  SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

And  gives  them  leave  to  wear  their  sapphire  crowns 

And  wield  their  little  tridents.     But  this  Isle, 

The  greatest  and  the  best  of  all  the  main, 

He  quarters  to  his  blue-haired  deities  ; 

And  all  this  tract  that  fronts  the  falling  sun  30 

A  noble  Peer  of  mickle  trust  and  power 

Has  in  his  charge,  with  tempered  awe  to  guide 

An  old  and  haughty  nation,  proud  in  arms : 

Where  his  fair  offspring,  nursed  in  princely  lore, 

Are  coming  to  attend  their  father's  state, 

And  new-intrusted  sceptre.     But  their  way 

Lies  through  the  perplexed  paths  of  this  drear  wood, 

The  nodding  horror  of  whose  shady  brows 

Threats  the  forlorn  and  wandering  passenger ; 

And  here  their  tender  age  might  surfer  peril,  40 

But  that,  by  quick  command  from  sovran  Jove, 

I  was  despatched  for  their  defence  and  guard ! 

And  listen  why ;  for  I  will  tell  you  now 

What  never  yet  was  heard  in  tale  or  song, 

From  old  or  modern  bard,  in  hall  or  bower. 

Bacchus,  that  first  from  out  the  purple  grape 
Crushed  the  sweet  poison  of  misused  wine, 
After  the  Tuscan  mariners  transformed, 
Coasting  the  Tyrrhene  shore,  as  the  winds  listed, 
On  Circe's  island  fell.     (Who  knows  not  Circe,  50 

The  daughter  of  the  Sun,  whose  charmed  cup 
Whoever  tasted  lost  his  upright  shape 
And  downward  fell  into  a  grovelling  swine  ?) 
This  Nymph,  that  gazed  upon  his  clustering  locks 
With  ivy  berries  wreathed,  and  his  blithe  youth, 
Had  by  him,  ere  he  parted  thence,  a  son 
Much  like  his  father,  but  his  mother  more, 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          55 

Whom  therefore  she  brought  up,  and  Comus  named : 

Who,  ripe  and  frolic  of  his  full-grown  age, 

Eoving  the  Celtic  and  Iberian  fields,  60 

At  last  betakes  him  to  this  ominous  wood, 

And,  in  thick  shelter  of  black  shades  imbowered, 

Excels  his  mother  at  her  mighty  art ; 

Offering  to  every  weary  traveller 

His  orient  liquor  in  a  crystal  glass, 

To  quench  the  drouth  of  Phoebus ;  which  as  they  taste 

(For  most  do  taste  through  fond  intemperate  thirst), 

Soon  as  the  potion  works,  their  human  countenance, 

The  express  resemblance  of  the  gods,  is  changed 

Into  some  brutish  form  of  wolf  or  bear,  70 

Or  ounce  or  tiger,  hog,  or  bearded  goat, 

All  other  parts  remaining  as  they  were. 

And  they,  so  perfect  is  their  misery, 

Not  once  perceive  their  foul  disfigurement, 

But  boast  themselves  more  comely  than  before, 

Arid  all  their  friends  and  native  home  forget, 

To  roll  with  pleasure  in  a  sensual  sty. 

Therefore,  when  any  favoured  of  high  Jove 

Chances  to  pass  through  this  adventurous  glade, 

Swift  as  the  sparkle  of  a  glancing  star  so 

I  shoot  from  heaven,  to  give  him  safe  convoy, 

As  now  I  do.     But  first  I  must  put  off 

These  my  sky-robes  spun  out  of  Iris'  woof, 

And  take  the  weeds  and  likeness  of  a  swain 

That  to  the  service  of  this  house  belongs, 

Who,  with  his  soft  pipe  arid  smooth-dittied  song, 

Well  knows  to  still  the  wild  winds  when  they  roar, 

And  hush  the  waving  woods ;  nor  of  less  faith, 

And  in  this  office  of  his  mountain  watch 


56          SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Likeliest,  and  nearest  to  the  present  aid  90 

Of  this  occasion.     But  I  hear  the  tread 
Of  hateful  steps ;  I  must  be  viewless  now. 

COMUS  enters,  with  a  charming-rod  in  one  hand,  his  glass  in  the  other  ; 
with  him  a  rout  of  monsters,  headed  like  sundry  sorts  of  wild  beasts, 
but  otherwise  like  men  and  women,  their  apparel  glistening.  They 
come  in  making  a  riotous  and  unruly  noise,  with  torches  in  their 
hands 

Cotnus.     The  star  that  bids  the  shepherd  fold 
Now  the  top  of  heaven  doth  hold ; 
And  the  gilded  car  of  day 
His  glowing  axle  doth  allay 
In  the  steep  Atlantic  stream : 
And  the  slope  sun  his  upward  beam 
Shoots  against  the  dusky  pole, 

Pacing  toward  the  other  goal  100 

Of  his  chamber  in  the  east. 
Meanwhile,  welcome  joy  and  feast, 
Midnight  shout  and  revelry, 
Tipsy  dance  and  jollity. 
Braid  your  locks  with  rosy  twine, 
Dropping  odours,  dropping  wine. 
Rigour  now  is  gone  to  bed ; 
And  Advice  with  scrupulous  head, 
Strict  Age,  and  sour  Severity, 

With  their  grave  saws,  in  slumber  lie.  110 

We,  that  are  of  purer  fire, 
Imitate  the  starry  quire, 
Who,  in  their  nightly  watchful  spheres, 
Lead  in  swift  round  the  months  and  years. 
The  sounds  and  seas,  with  all  their  finny  drove, 
Now  to  the  moon  in  wavering  morrice  move ; 


SHORTER  POEMS  OF  JOHN  MILTON         57 

And  on  the  tawny  sands  and  shelves 

Trip  the  pert  fairies  and  the  dapper  elves. 

By  dimpled  brook  and  fountain-brim, 

The  wood-nymphs,  decked  with  daisies  trim,  120 

Their  merry  wakes  and  pastimes  keep : 

What  hath  night  to  do  with  sleep  ? 

Night  hath  better  sweets  to  prove ; 

Venus  now  wakes,  and  wakens  Love. 

Come,  let  us  our  rites  begin ; 

'Tis  only  daylight  that  makes  sin, 

Which  these  dun  shades  will  ne'er  report. 

Hail,  goddess  of  nocturnal  sport, 

Dark-veiled  Cotytto,  to  whom  the  secret  flame 

Of  midnight  torches  burns !  mysterious  dame,  130 

That  ne'er  art  called  but  when  the  dragon  womb 

Of  Stygian  darkness  spets  her  thickest  gloom, 

And  makes  one  blot  of  all  the  air ! 

Stay  thy  cloudy  ebon  chair, 

Wherein  thou  ridest  with  Hecat',  and  befriend 

Us  thy  vowed  priests,  till  utmost  end 

Of  all  thy  dues  be  done,  and  none  left  out 

Ere  the  blabbing  eastern  scout, 

The  nice  Morn  on  the  Indian  steep, 

From  her  cabined  loop-hole  peep,  HO 

And  to  the  tell-tale  Sun  descry 

Our  concealed  solemnity. 

Come,  knit  hands,  and  beat  the  ground 

In  a  light  fantastic  round. 

The  Measure 

Break  off,  break  off !  I  feel  the  different  pace 
Of  some  chaste  footing  near  about  this  ground. 


58          SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Run  to  your  shrouds  within  these  brakes  and  trees ; 

Our  number  may  affright.     Some  virgin  sure 

(For  so  I  can  distinguish  by  mine  art) 

Benighted  in  these  woods !     Now  to  my  charms,       150 

And  to  my  wily  trains :  I  shall  ere  long 

Be  well  stocked  with  as  fair  a  herd  as  grazed 

About  my  mother  Circe.     Thus  I  hurl 

My  dazzling  spells  into  the  spongy  air, 

Of  power  to  cheat  the  eye  with  blear  illusion, 

And  give  it  false  presentments,  lest  the  place 

And  my  quaint  habits  breed  astonishment, 

And  put  the  damsel  to  suspicious  flight ; 

Which  must  not  be,  for  that's  against  my  course. 

I,  under  fair  pretence  of  friendly  ends,  160 

And  well-placed  words  of  glozing  courtesy, 

Baited  with  reasons  not  unplausible, 

Wind  me  into  the  easy-hearted  man, 

And  hug  him  into  snares.     When  once  her  eye 

Hath  met  the  virtue  of  this  magic  dust 

I  shall  appear  some  harmless  villager, 

Whom  thrift  keeps  up  about  his  country  gear. 

But  here  she  comes ;  I  fairly  step  aside, 

And  hearken,  if  I  may  her  business  hear.  109 

The  LADY  enters 

Lady.     This  way  the  noise  was,  if  mine  ear  be  true, 
My  best  guide  now.     Methought  it  was  the  sound 
Of  riot  and  ill-managed  merriment, 
Such  as  the  jocund  flute  or  gamesome  pipe 
Stirs  up  among  the  loose  unlettered  hinds, 
When,  for  their  teeming  flocks  and  granges  full, 
In  wanton  dance  they  praise  the  bounteous  Pan, 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          59 


And  thank  the  gods  amiss.     I  should  be  loth 

To  meet  the  rudeness  and  swilled  insolence 

Of  such  late  wassailers  ;  yet,  oh  !  where  else 

Shall  I  inform  my  unacquainted  feet  180 

In  the  blind  mazes  of  this  tangled  wood  ? 

My  brothers,  when  they  saw  me  wearied  out 

With  this  long  way,  resolving  here  to  lodge 

Under  the  spreading  favour  of  these  pines, 

Stepped,  as  they  said,  to  the  next  thicket-side 

To  bring  me  berries,  or  such  cooling  fruit 

As  the  kind  hospitable  woods  provide. 

They  left  me  then  when  the  grey-hooded  Even, 

Like  a  sad  votarist  in  palmer's  weed, 

Rose  from  the  hindmost  wheels  of  Phoebus'  wain.     190 

But  where  they  are,  and  why  they  come  not  back, 

Is  now  the  labour  of  my  thoughts.     'Tis  likeliest 

They  had  engaged  their  wandering  steps  too  far ; 

And  envious  darkness,  ere  they  could  return, 

Had  stole  them  from  me.     Else,  O  thievish  Night, 

Why  should'st  thou,  but  for  some  felonious  end, 

In  thy  dark  lantern  thus  close  up  the  stars 

That  Nature  hung  in  heaven,  and  filled  their  lamps 

With  everlasting  oil,  to  give  due  light 

To  the  misled  and  lonely  traveller  ?  200 

This  is  the  place,  as  well  as  I  may  guess, 

Whence  even  now  the  tumult  of  loud  mirth 

Was  rife,  and  perfect  in  my  listening  ear ; 

Yet  nought  but  single  darkness  do  I  find. 

What  might  this  be  ?     A  thousand  fantasies 

Begin  to  throng  into  my  memory, 

Of  calling  shapes,  and  beckoning  shadows  dire, 

And  airy  tongues  that  syllable  men's  names 


60          SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

On  sands  and  shores  and  desert  wildernesses. 

These  thoughts  may  startle  well,  but  not  astound     210 

The  virtuous  mind,  that  ever  walks  attended 

By  a  strong  siding  champion,  Conscience. 

0,  welcome,  pure-eyed  Faith,  white-handed  Hope, 

Thou  hovering  angel  girt  with  golden  wings, 

And  thou  unblemished  form  of  Chastity ! 

I  see  ye  visibly,  and  now  believe 

That  He,  the  Supreme  Good,  to  whom  all  things  ill 

Are  but  as  slavish  officers  of  vengeance, 

Would  send  a  glistering  guardian,  if  need  were, 

To  keep  my  life  and  honour  unassailed.  ...  220 

Was  I  deceived,  or  did  a  sable  cloud 

Turn  forth  her  silver  lining  on  the  night  ? 

I  did  not  err :  there  does  a  sable  cloud 

Turn  forth  her  silver  lining  on  the  night, 

And  casts  a  gleam  over  this  tufted  grove. 

I  cannot  hallo  to  my  brothers,  but 

Such  noise  as  I  can  make  to  be  heard  farthest 

I'll  venture ;  for  my  new-enlivened  spirits 

Prompt  me,  and  they  perhaps  are  not  far  off. 

Song 

Sweet  echo,  sweetest  nymph,  that  liv'st  unseen         230 
Within  thy  airy  shell 

By  slow  Meander's  margent  green, 
And  in  the  violet-embroidered  vale 

Where  the  love-lorn  nightingale 
Nightly  to  thee  her  sad  song  mourneth  well : 
Canst  thou  not  tell  me  of  a  gentle  pair 

That  likest  thy  Narcissus  are  ? 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          61 

0,  if  thou  have 
Hid  them  in  some  flowery  cave, 

Tell  me  but  where,  240 

Sweet  Queen  of  Parley,  Daughter  of  the  Sphere ! 
So  may'st  thou  be  translated  to  the  skies, 
And  give  resounding  grace  to  all  Heaven's  harmonies  ! 

Comus.     Can  any  mortal  mixture  of  earth's  mould 
Breathe  such  divine  enchanting  ravishment  ? 
Sure  something  holy  lodges  in  that  breast, 
And  with  these  raptures  moves  the  vocal  air 
To  testify  his  hidden  residence. 
How  sweetly  did  they  float  upon  the  wings 
Of  silence,  through  the  empty-vaulted  night,  250 

At  every  fall  smoothing  the  raven  down 
Of  darkness  till  it  smiled !     I  have  oft  heard 
My  mother  Circe  with  the  Sirens  three, 
Amidst  the  flowery-kirtled  Naiades, 
Culling  their  potent  herbs  and  baleful  drugs, 
Who,  as  they  sung,  would  take  the  prisoned  soul, 
And  lap  it  in  Elysium :  Scylla  wept, 
And  chid  her  barking  waves  into  attention, 
And  fell  Charybdis  murmured  soft  applause. 
Yet  they  in  pleasing  slumber  lulled  the  sense,  260 

And  in  sweet  madness  robbed  it  of  itself ; 
But  such  a  sacred  and  home-felt  delight, 
Such  sober  certainty  of  waking  bliss, 
I  never  heard  till  now.     I'll  speak  to  her, 
And  she  shall  be  my  queen.  —  Hail,  foreign  wonder ! 
Whom  certain  these  rough  shades  did  never  breed, 
Unless  the  goddess  that  in  rural  shrine 
Dwell'st  here  with  Pan  or  Sylvan,  by  blest  song 


62  SHORTER   POEMS    OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Forbidding  every  bleak  unkindly  fog 

To  touch  the  prosperous  growth  of  this  tall  wood.     270 

Lady.     Nay,  gentle  shepherd,  ill  is  lost  that  praise 
That  is  addressed  to  unattending  ears. 
Not  any  boast  of  skill,  but  extreme  shift 
How  to  regain  my  severed  company, 
Compelled  me  to  awake  the  courteous  Echo 
To  give  me  answer  from  her  mossy  couch. 

Comus.     What  chance,  good  Lady,  hath  bereft  you 

thus? 

Lady.     Dim  darkness  and  this  leavy  labyrinth. 
Comus.     Could  that  divide  you  from  near-ushering 

guides  ? 

Lady.     They  left  me  weary  on  a  grassy  turf.         280 
Comus.     By  falsehood,  or  discourtesy,  or  why  ? 
Lady.     To  seek   i'   the   valley  some  cool  friendly 

spring. 
Comus.     And   left  your   fair   side    all    unguarded, 

Lady? 
Lady.     They  were  but  twain,  and  purposed  quick 

return. 

Comus.     Perhaps  forestalling  night  prevented  them. 
Lady.     How  easy  my  misfortune  is  to  hit ! 
Comus.     Imports  their  loss,  beside  the  present  need  ? 
Lady.     No  less  than  if  I  should  my  brothers  lose. 
Comus.     Were  they  of  manly  prime,  or  youthful 

bloom  ? 

Lady.     As  smooth  as  Hebe's  their  unrazored  lips. 
Comus.     Two  such  I  saw,  what  time  the  laboured 
ox  291 

In  his  loose  traces  from  the  furrow  came, 
And  the  swinked  hedger  at  his  supper  sat. 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          63 


I  saw  them  under  a  green  mantling  vine. 

That  crawls  along  the  side  of  yon  small  hill, 

Plucking  ripe  clusters  from  the  tender  shoots ; 

Their  port  was  more  than  human,  as  they  stood. 

I  took  it  for  a  faery  vision 

Of  some  gay  creatures  of  the  element, 

That  in  the  colours  of  the  rainbow  live,  300 

And  play  i'  the  plighted  clouds.     I  was  awe-strook, 

And,  as  I  passed,  I  worshipped.     If  those  you  seek, 

It  were  a  journey  like  the  path  to  Heaven 

To  help  you  find  them. 

Lady.  Gentle  villager, 

What  readiest  way  would  bring  me  to  that  place  ? 

Comus.     Due  west  it  rises  from  this  shrubby  point. 

Lady.     To  find  out  that,  good  shepherd,  I  suppose, 
In  such  a  scant  allowance  of  star-light, 
Would  overtask  the  best  land-pilot's  art, 
Without  the  sure  guess  of  well-practised  feet.  310 

Comus.     I  know  each  lane,  and  every  alley  green, 
Dingle,  or  bushy  dell,  of  this  wild  wood, 
And  every  bosky  bourn  from  side  to  side, 
My  daily  walks  and  ancient  neighbourhood ; 
And,  if  your  stray  attendance  be  yet  lodged, 
Or  shroud  within  these  limits,  I  shall  know 
Ere  morrow  wake,  or  the  low-roosted  lark 
From  her  thatched  pallet  rouse.     If  otherwise, 
I  can  conduct  you,  Lady,  to  a  low 
But  loyal  cottage,  where  you  may  be  safe  320 

Till  further  quest. 

Lady.  Shepherd,  I  take  thy  word, 

And  trust  thy  honest-offered  courtesy, 
Which  oft  is  sooner  found  in  lowly  sheds, 


64          SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN   MILTON 

With  smoky  rafters,  than  in  tapestry  halls 

And  courts  of  princes,  where  it  first  was  named, 

And  yet  is  most  pretended.     In  a  place 

Less  warranted  than  this,  or  less  secure, 

I  cannot  be,  that  I  should  fear  to  change  it. 

Eye  me,  blest  Providence,  and  square  my  trial 

To  my  proportioned  strength !  Shepherd,  lead  on.  ...  330 

The  Two  BROTHERS 

Eld.  Bro.     Unmuffle,  ye  faint  stars ;  and  thou,  fair 

moon, 

That  wont'st  to  love  the  traveller's  benison, 
Stoop  thy  pale  visage  through  an  amber  cloud, 
And  disinherit  Chaos,  that  reigns  here 
In  double  night  of  darkness  and  of  shades ; 
Or,  if  your  influence  be  quite  dammed  up 
With  black  usurping  mists,  some  gentle  taper, 
Though  a  rush-candle  from  the  wicker  hole 
Of  some  clay  habitation,  visit  us 

With  thy  long  levelled  rule  of  streaming  light,         340 
And  thou  shalt  be  our  star  of  Arcady, 
Or  Tyrian  Cynosure. 

Sec.  Bro.  Or,  if  our  eyes 

Be  barred  that  happiness,  might  we  but  hear 
The  folded  flocks,  penned  in  their  wattled  cotes, 
Or  sound  of  pastoral  reed  with  oaten  stops, 
Or  whistle  from  the  lodge,  or  village  cock 
Count  the  night-watches  to  his  feathery  dames, 
'  Twould  be  some  solace  yet,  some  little  cheering, 
In  this  close  dungeon  of  innumerous  boughs. 
But,  oh,  that  hapless  virgin,  our  lost  sister !  350 

Where  may  she  wander  now,  whither  betake  her 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          65 


From  the  chill  dew,  amongst  rude  burs  and  thistles  ? 
Perhaps  some  cold  bank  is  her  bolster  now, 
Or  'gainst  the  rugged  bark  of  some  broad  elm 
Leans  her  unpillowed  head,  fraught  with  sad  fears. 
What  if  in  wild  amazement  and  affright, 
Or,  while  we  speak,  within  the  direful  grasp 
Of  savage  hunger,  or  of  savage  heat ! 

Eld.  Bro.     Peace,  brother :  be  not  over-exquisite 
To  cast  the  fashion  of  uncertain  evils  ;  360 

For,  grant  they  be  so,  while  they  rest  unknown, 
What  need  a  man  forestall  his  date  of  grief, 
And  run  to  meet  what  he  would  most  avoid  ? 
Or,  if  they  be  but  false  alarms  of  fear, 
How  bitter  is  such  self-delusion ! 
I  do  not  think  my  sister  so  to  seek, 
Or  so  unprincipled  in  virtue's  book, 
And  the  sweet  peace  that  goodness  bosoms  ever, 
As  that  the  single  want  of  light  and  noise 
(Not  being  in  danger,  as  I  trust  she  is  not)  370 

Could  stir  the  constant  mood  of  her  calm  thoughts, 
And  put  them  into  misbecoming  plight. 
Virtue  could  see  to  do  what  Virtue  would 
By  her  own  radiant  light,  though  sun  and  moon 
Were  in  the  flat  sea  sunk.     And  Wisdom's  self 
Oft  seeks  to  sweet  retired  solitude, 
Where,  with  her  best  nurse  Contemplation, 
She  plumes  her  feathers,  and  lets  grow  her  wings. 
That,  in  the  various  bustle  of  resort, 
Were  all  to-ruffled,  and  sometimes  impaired.  380 

He  that  has  light  within  his  own  clear  breast 
May  sit  i'  the  centre,  and  enjoy  bright  day  : 
But  he  that  hides  a  dark  soul  and  foul  thoughts 


66  SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN   MILTON 

Benighted  walks  under  the  mid-day  sun ; 
Himself  is  his  own  dungeon. 

Sec.  Bro.  'Tis  most  true 

That  musing  Meditation  most  affects 
The  pensive  secrecy  of  desert  cell, 
Ear  from  the  cheerful  haunt  of  men  and  herds, 
And  sits  as  safe  as  in  a  senate-house ; 
For  who  would  rob  a  hermit  of  his  weeds,  390 

His  few  books,  or  his  beads,  or  maple  dish, 
Or  do  his  grey  hairs  any  violence  ? 
But  Beauty,  like  the  fair  Hesperian  tree 
Laden  with  blooming  gold,  had  need  the  guard 
Of  dragon-watch  with  unenchanted  eye 
To  save  her  blossoms,  and  defend  her  fruit, 
From  the  rash  hand  of  bold  Incontinence. 
You  may  as  well  spread  out  the  unsunned  heaps 
Of  miser's  treasure  by  an  outlaw's  den, 
And  tell  me  it  is  safe,  as  bid  me  hope  400 

Danger  will  wink  on  Opportunity, 
And  let  a  single  helpless  maiden  pass 
Uninjured  in  this  wild  surrounding  waste. 
Of  night  or  loneliness  it  recks  me  not ; 
I  fear  the  dread  events  that  dog  them  both, 
Lest  some  ill-greeting  touch  attempt  the  person 
Of  our  unowned  sister. 

Eld.  Bro.  I  do  not,  brother, 

Infer  as  if  I  thought  my  sister's  state 
Secure  without  all  doubt  or  controversy ; 
Yet,  where  an  equal  poise  of  hope  and  fear  410 

Does  arbitrate  the  event,  my  nature  is 
That  I  incline  to  hope  rather  than  fear, 
And  gladly  banish  squint  suspicion. 


SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          67 


My  sister  is  not  so  defenceless  left 

As  you  imagine ;  she  has  a  hidden  strength, 

Which  you  remember  not. 

Sec.  Bro.  What  hidden  strength, 

Unless  the  strength  of  Heaven,  if  you  mean  that  ? 

Eld.  Bro.    I  mean  that  too,  but  yet  a  hidden  strength, 
Which,  if  Heaven  gave  it,  may  be  termed  her  own. 
'Tis  chastity,  my  brother,  chastity :  420 

She  that  has  that  is  clad  in  complete  steel, 
And,  like  a  quivered  nymph  with  arrows  keen, 
May  trace  huge  forests,  and  unharboured  heaths, 
Infamous  hills,  and  sandy  perilous  wilds ; 
Where,  through  the  sacred  rays  of  chastity, 
No  savage  fierce,  bandite,  or  mountaineer, 
Will  dare  to  soil  her  virgin  purity. 
Yea,  there  where  very  desolation  dwells, 
By  grots  and  caverns  shagged  with  horrid  shades, 
She  may  pass  on  with  unblenched  majesty,  430 

Be  it  not  done  in  pride,  or  in  presumption. 
Some  say  no  evil  thing  that  walks  by  night, 
In  fog  or  fire,  by  lake  or  moorish  fen, 
Blue  meagre  hag,  or  stubborn  unlaid  ghost, 
That  breaks  his  magic  chains  at  curfew  time, 
No  goblin  or  swart  faery  of  the  mine, 
Hath  hurtful  power  o'er  true  virginity. 
Do  ye  believe  me  yet,  or  shall  I  call 
Antiquity  from  the  old  schools  of  Greece 
To  testify  the  arms  of  chastity  ?  440 

Hence  had  the  huntress  Dian  her  dread  bow, 
Fair  silver-shafted  queen  for  ever  chaste, 
Wherewith  she  tamed  the  brinded  lioness 
And  spotted  mountain-pard,  but  set  at  nought 


68          SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN   MILTON 

The  frivolous  bolt  of  Cupid ;  gods  and  men 

Feared  her  stern  frown,  and  she  was  queen  o'  the  woods. 

What  was  that  snaky-headed  Gorgon  shield 

That  wise  Minerva  wore,  unconquered  virgin, 

Wherewith  she  freezed  her  foes  to  congealed  stone, 

But  rigid  looks  of  chaste  austerity,  450 

And  noble  grace  that  dashed  brute  violence 

With  sudden  adoration  and  blank  awe  ? 

So  dear  to  Heaven  is  saintly  chastity 

That,  when  a  soul  is  found  sincerely  so, 

A  thousand  liveried  angels  lackey  her, 

Driving  far  off  each  thing  of  sin  and  guilt, 

And  in  clear  dream  and  solemn  vision 

Tell  her  of  things  that  no  gross  ear  can  hear; 

Till  oft  converse  with  heavenly  habitants 

Begin  to  cast  a  beam  on  the  outward  shape,  460 

The  unpolluted  temple  of  the  mind, 

And  turns  it  by  degrees  to  the  soul's  essence, 

Till  all  be  made  immortal.     But,  when  lust, 

By  unchaste  looks,  loose  gestures,  and  foul  talk, 

But  most  by  lewd  and  lavish  act  of  sin, 

Lets  in  defilement  to  the  inward  parts, 

The  soul  grows  clotted  by  contagion, 

Imbodies,  and  imbrutes,  till  she  quite  lose 

The  divine  property  of  her  first  being. 

Such  are  those  thick  and  gloomy  shadows  damp         470 

Oft  seen  in  charnel-vaults  and  sepulchres, 

Lingering  and  sitting  by  a  new-made  grave, 

As  loth  to  leave  the  body  that  it  loved, 

And  linked  itself  by  carnal  sensualty 

To  a  degenerate  and  degraded  state. 

Sec.  Bro.     How  charming  is  divine  Philosophy! 


Not  har 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          69 


Not  harsh  and  crabbed,  as  dull  fools  suppose, 

But  musical  as  is  Apollo's  lute, 

And  a  perpetual  feast  of  nectared  sweets,  479 

Where  no  crude  surfeit  reigns. 

Eld.  Bro.  List !  list !  I  hear 

Some  far-off  hallo  break  the  silent  air. 

Sec.  Bro.     Methought  so  too ;  what  should  it  be  ? 

Eld.  Bro.  For  certain, 

Either  some  one,  like  us,  night-foundered  here, 
Or  else  some  neighbour  woodman,  or,  at  worst, 
Some  roving  robber  calling  to  his  fellows. 

Sec.  Bro.     Heaven  keep  my  sister !     Again,  again, 

and  near ! 
Best  draw,  and  stand  upon  our  guard. 

Eld.  Bro.  I'll  hallo. 

If  he  be  friendly,  he  comes  well :  if  not, 
Defence  is  a  good  cause,  and  Heaven  be  for  us !        489 

The  ATTENDANT  SPIRIT,  habited  like  a  shepherd 

That  hallo  I  should  know.    What  are  you  ?     Speak. 
Come  not  too  near ;  you  fall  on  iron  stakes  else. 

Spir.     What  voice  is  that  ?  my  young  Lord  ?  speak 
again. 

Sec.  Bro.   0  brother,  'tis  my  father's  Shepherd,  sure. 

Eld.  Bro.     Thyrsis !  whose  artful  strains  have  oft 

delayed  * 

The  huddling  brook  to  hear  his  madrigal, 
And  sweetened  every  musk-rose  of  the  dale. 
How  earnest  thou  here,  good  swain  ?     Hath  any  ram 
Slipped  from  the  fold,  or  young  kid  lost  his  dam, 
Or  straggling  wether  the  pent  flock  forsook  ? 
How  couldst  thou  find  this  dark  sequestered  nook  ?  5CO 


70          SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Spir.     0  my  loved  master's  heir,  and  his  next  joy, 
I  came  not  here  on  such  a  trivial  toy 
As  a  strayed  ewe,  or  to  pursue  the  stealth 
Of  pilfering  wolf ;  not  all  the  fleecy  wealth 
That  doth  enrich  these  downs  is  worth  a  thought 
To  this  my  errand,  and  the  care  it  brought. 
But,  oh !  my  virgin  Lady,  where  is  she  ? 
How  chance  she  is  not  in  your  company  ? 

Eld.  Bro.      To  tell  thee  sadly,  Shepherd,  without 

blame 
Or  our  neglect,  we  lost  her  as  we  came.  510 

Spir.     Ay  me  unhappy  !  then  my  fears  are  true. 

Eld.   Bro.      What   fears,  good   Thyrsis  ?      Prithee 
briefly  shew. 

Spir.     I'll  tell  ye.     'Tis  not  vain  or  fabulous 
(Though  so  esteemed  by  shallow  ignorance) 
What  the  sage  poets,  taught  by  the  heavenly  Muse, 
Storied  of  old  in  high  immortal  verse 
Of  dire  Chimeras  and  enchanted  isles, 
And  rifted  rocks  whose  entrance  leads  to  Hell ; 
For  such  there  be,  but  unbelief  is  blind. 

Within  the  navel  of  this  hideous  wood,  520 

Immured  in  cypress  shades,  a  sorcerer  dwells, 
Of  Bacchus  and  of  Circe  born,  great  Comus, 
Deep  skilled  in  all  his  mother's  witcheries, 
And  here  to  every  thirsty  wanderer 
By  sly  enticement  gives  his  baneful  cup, 
With  many  murmurs  mixed,  whose  pleasing  poison 
The  visage  quite  transforms  of  him  that  drinks, 
And  the  inglorious  likeness  of  a  beast 
Fixes  instead,  unmoulding  reason's  mintage 
Charactered  in  the  face.     This  have  I  learnt  530 


SHORTER  POEMS  OF  JOHN  MILTON          71 

Tending  my  flocks  hard  by  i'  the  hilly  crofts 

That  brow  this  bottom  glade ;  whence  night  by  night 

He  and  his  monstrous  rout  are  heard  to  howl 

Like  stabled  wolves,  or  tigers  at  their  prey, 

Doing  abhorred  rites  to  Hecate 

In  their  obscured  haunts  of  inmost  bowers. 

Yet  have  they  many  baits  and  guileful  spells 

To  inveigle  and  invite  the  unwary  sense 

Of  them  that  pass  unweeting  by  the  way. 

This  evening  late,  by  then  the  chewing  flocks  540 

Had  ta'en  their  supper  on  the  savoury  herb 

Of  knot-grass  dew-besprent,  and  were  in  fold, 

I  sat  me  down  to  watch  upon  a  bank 

With  ivy  canopied,  and  interwove 

With  flaunting  honeysuckle,  and  began, 

Wrapt  in  a  pleasing  fit  of  melancholy, 

To  meditate  my  rural  minstrelsy, 

Till  fancy  had  her  fill.     But  ere  a  close 

The  wonted  roar  was  up  amidst  the  woods, 

And  filled  the  air  with  barbarous  dissonance ;  550 

At  which  I  ceased,  and  listened  them  awhile, 

Till  an  unusual  stop  of  sudden  silence 

Gave  respite  to  the  drowsy-flighted  steeds 

That  draw  the  litter  of  close-curtained  Sleep. 

At  last  a  soft  and  solemn-breathing  sound 

Rose  like  a  steam  of  rich  distilled  perfumes, 

And  stole  upon  the  air,  that  even  Silence 

Was  took  ere  she  was  ware,  and  wished  she  might 

Deny  her  nature,  and  be  never  more, 

Still  to  be  so  displaced.     I  was  all  ear,  560 

And  took  in  strains  that  might  create  a  soul 

Under  the  ribs  of  Death.     But,  oh  !  ere  long 


72  SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Too  well  I  did  perceive  it  was  the  voice 

Of  my  most  honoured  Lady,  your  dear  sister. 

Amazed  I  stood,  harrowed  with  grief  and  fear  ; 

And  '  0  poor  hapless  nightingale/  thought  I, 

'  How  sweet  thou  sing'st,  how  near  the  deadly  snare  ! ' 

Then  down  the  lawns  I  ran  with  headlong  haste, 

Through  paths  and  turnings  often  trod  by  day, 

Till,  guided  by  mine  ear,  I  found  the  place  570 

Where  that  damned  wizard,  hid  in  sly  disguise 

(For  so  by  certain  signs  I  knew),  had  met 

Already,  ere  my  best  speed  could  prevent, 

The  aidless  innocent  lady,  his  wished  prey ; 

Who  gently  asked  if  he  had  seen  such  two, 

Supposing  him  some  neighbour  villager. 

Longer  I  durst  not  stay,  but  soon  I  guessed 

Ye  were  the  two  she  meant ;  with  that  I  sprung 

Into  swift  flight,  till  I  had  found  you  here ; 

But  further  know  I  not. 

Sec.  Bro.  0  night  and  shades,  580 

How  are  ye  joined  with  hell  in  triple  knot 
Against  the  unarmed  weakness  of  one  virgin, 
Alone  and  helpless  !  Is  this  the  confidence 
You  gave  me,  brother  ? 

Eld.  Bro.  Yes,  and  keep  it  still ; 

Lean  on  it  safely  ;  not  a  period 
Shall  be  unsaid  for  me.     Against  the  threats 
Of  malice  or  of  sorcery,  or  that  power 
Which  erring  men  call  Chance,  this  I  hold  firm  : 
Virtue  may  be  assailed,  but  never  hurt, 
Surprised  by  unjust  force,  but  not  enthralled ;  590 

Yea,  even  that  which  Mischief  meant  most  harm 
Shall  in  the  happy  trial  prove  most  glory. 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          73 

ut  evil  on  itself  sliall  back  recoil, 
And  mix  no  more  with  goodness,  when  at  last, 
Gathered  like  scum,  and  settled  to  itself, 
It  shall  be  in  eternal  restless  change 
Self-fed  and  self-consumed.     If  this  fail, 
The  pillared  firmament  is  rottenness, 
And  earth's  base  built  on  stubble.    But  come,  let's  on ! 
Against  the  opposing  will  and  arm  of  Heaven  600 

May  never  this  just  sword  be  lifted  up  ; 
But,  for  that  damned  magician,  let  him  be  girt 
With  all  the  griesly  legions  that  troop 
Under  the  sooty  flag  of  Acheron, 
Harpies  and  Hydras,  or  all  the  monstrous  forms 
'Twixt  Africa  and  Ind,  I'll  find  him  out, 
And  force  him  to  return  his  purchase  back, 
Or  drag  him  by  the  curls  to  a  foul  death, 
Cursed  as  his  life. 

Spir.  Alas  !  good  venturous  youth, 

I  love  thy  courage  yet,  and  bold  emprise ;  610 

But  here  thy  sword  can  do  thee  little  stead. 
Far  other  arms  and  other  weapons  must 
Be  those  that  quell  the  might  of  hellish  charms. 
He  with  his  bare  wand  can  unthread  thy  joints, 
And  crumble  all  thy  sinews. 

Eld.  Bro.  Why,  prithee,  Shepherd, 

How  durst  thou  then  thyself  approach  so  near 
As  to  make  this  relation  ? 

Spir.  Care  and  utmost  shifts 

How  to  secure  the  Lady  from  surprisal 
Brought  to  my  mind  a  certain  shepherd  lad, 
Of  small  regard  to  see  to,  yet  well  skilled  620 

In  every  virtuous  plant  and  healing  herb 


74          SHOETER   POEMS   OF  JOHN   MILTON 

That  spreads  her  verdant  leaf  to  the  morning  ray. 

He  loved  me  well,  and  oft  would  beg  me  sing ; 

Which  when  I  did,  he  on  the  tender  grass 

Wonld  sit,  and  hearken  even  to  ecstasy, 

And  in  requital  ope  his  leathern  scrip, 

And  show  me  simples  of  a  thousand  names, 

Telling  their  strange  and  vigorous  faculties. 

Amongst  the  rest  a  small  unsightly  root, 

But  of  divine  effect,  he  culled  me  out.  630 

The  leaf  was  darkish,  and  had  prickles  on  it, 

But  in  another  country,  as  he  said, 

Bore  a  bright  golden  flower,  but  not  in  this  soil : 

Unknown,  and  like  esteemed,  and  the  dull  swain 

Treads  on  it  daily  with  his  clouted  shoon ; 

And  yet  more  med'cinal  is  it  than  that  Moly 

That  Hermes  once  to  wise  Ulysses  gave. 

He  called  it  Haemony,  and  gave  it  me, 

And  bade  me  keep  it  as  of  sovran  use 

'Gainst  all  enchantments,  mildew  blast,  or  damp,     640 

Or  ghastly  Furies'  apparition. 

I  pursed  it  up,  but  little  reckoning  made, 

Till  now  that  this  extremity  compelled. 

But  now  I  find  it  true ;  for  by  this  means 

I  knew  the  foul  enchanter,  though  disguised, 

Entered  the  very  lime-twigs  of  his  spells, 

And  yet  carne  off.     If  you  have  this  about  you 

(As  I  will  give  you  when  we  go)  you  may 

Boldly  assault  the  necromancer's  hall ; 

Where  if  he  be,  with  dauntless  hardihood  650 

And  brandished  blade  rush  on  him :  break  his  glass, 

And  shed  the  luscious  liquor  on  the  ground ; 

But  seize  his  wand.     Though  he  and  his  curst  crew 


SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          75 

Fierce  sign  of  battle  make,  and  menace  high, 
Or,  like  the  sons  of  Vulcan,  vomit  smoke, 
Yet  will  they  soon  retire,  if  he  but  shrink. 

Eld.  Bro.     Thyrsis,  lead  on  apace ;  I'll  follow  thee ; 
And  some  good  angel  bear  a  shield  before  us ! 

The  Scene  changes  to  a  stately  palace,  set  out  with  all  manner  of  deli- 
cAousness  :  soft  music,  tables  spread  with  all  dainties.  COMUS  appears 
with  his  rabble,  and  THE  LADY  set  in  an  enchanted  Chair :  to  whom  he 
offers  his  glass ;  which  she  puts  by,  and  goes  about  to  rise. 

Comus.     Nay,  Lady,  sit.     If  I  but  wave  this  wand, 
Your  nerves  are  all  chained  up  in  alabaster,  660 

And  you  a  statue,  or  as  Daphne  was, 
Root-bound,  that  fled  Apollo. 

Lady.  Fool,  do  not  boast. 

Thou  canst  not  touch  the  freedom  of  my  mind 
With  all  thy  charms,  although  this  corporal  rind 
Thou  hast  immanacled  while  Heaven  sees  good. 

Comus.     Why  are  you  vexed,  Lady  ?  why  do  you 

frown  ? 

Here  dwell  no  frowns,  nor  anger ;  from  these  gates 
Sorrow  flies  far.     See,  here  be  all  the  pleasures 
That  fancy  can  beget  on  youthful  thoughts, 
When  the  fresh  blood  grows  lively,  and  returns        670 
Brisk  as  the  April  buds  in  primrose  season. 
And  first  behold  this  cordial  julep  here, 
That  flames  and  dances  in  his  crystal  bounds, 
With  spirits  of  balm  and  fragrant  syrups  mixed. 
Not  that  Nepenthes,  which  the  wife  of  Thone 
In  Egypt  gave  to  Jove-born  Helena 
Is  of  such  power  to  stir  up  joy  as  this, 
To  life  so  friendly,  or  so  cool  to  thirst. 
Why  should  you  be  so  cruel  to  yourself, 


76          SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

And  to  those  dainty  limbs,  which  Nature  lent  680 

For  gentle  usage  and  soft  delicacy  ? 

But  you  invert  the  covenants  of  her  trust, 

And  harshly  deal,  like  an  ill  borrower, 

With  that  which  you  received  on  other  terms, 

Scorning  the  unexempt  condition 

By  which  all  mortal  frailty  must  subsist, 

Kefreshment  after  toil,  ease  after  pain, 

That  have  been  tired  all  day  without  repast, 

And  timely  rest  have  wanted.     But,  fair  virgin, 

This  will  restore  all  soon. 

Lady.  'Twill  not,  false  traitor !  690 

'Twill  not  restore  the  truth  and  honesty 
That  thou  hast  banished  from  thy  tongue  with  lies. 
Was  this  the  cottage  and  the  safe  abode 
Thou  told'st  me  of  ?     What  grim  aspects  are  these, 
These  oughly-headed  monsters  ?     Mercy  guard  me  ! 
Hence  with  thy  brewed  enchantments,  foul  deceiver ! 
Hast  thou  betrayed  my  credulous  innocence 
With  vizored  falsehood  and  base  forgery  ? 
And  wouldst  thou  seek  again  to  trap  me  here 
With  liquorish  baits,  fit  to  ensnare  a  brute  ?  700 

Were  it  a  draught  for  Juno  when  she  banquets, 
I  would  not  taste  thy  treasonous  offer.     None 
But  such  as  are  good  men  can  give  good  things ; 
And  that  which  is  not  good  is  not  delicious 
To  a  well-governed  and  wise  appetite. 

Comus.     0  foolishness  of  men  !  that  lend  their  ears 
To  those  budge  doctors  of  the  Stoic  fur, 
And  fetch  their  precepts  from  the  Cynic  tub, 
Praising  the  lean  and  sallow  Abstinence ! 
Wherefore  did  Nature  pour  her  bounties  forth          7io 


SHORTER    POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          77 

rith  such  a  full  and  unwithdrawing  hand, 
Covering  the  earth  with  odours,  fruits,  and  flocks, 
Thronging  the  seas  with  spawn  innumerable, 
But  all  to  please  and  sate  the  curious  taste  ? 
And  set  to  work  millions  of  spinning  worms, 
That  in  their  green  shops  weave  the  smooth-haired  silk, 
To  deck  her  sons ;  and,  that  no  corner  might 
Be  vacant  of  her  plenty,  in  her  own  loins 
She  hutched  the  all-worshipped  ore  and  precious  gems, 
To  store  her  children  with.     If  all  the  world  720 

Should,  in  a  pet  of  temperance,  feed  on  pulse, 
Drink  the  clear  stream,  and  nothing  wear  but  frieze, 
The  All-giver  would  be  unthanked,  would  be  unpraised, 
Not  half  his  riches  known,  and  yet  despised ; 
And  we  should  serve  him  as  a  grudging  master, 
As  a  penurious  niggard  of  his  wealth, 
And  live  like  Nature's  bastards,  not  her  sons, 
Who  would  be  quite  surcharged  with  her  own  weight, 
And  strangled  with  her  waste  fertility : 
The  earth  cumbered,  and  the  winged  air  darked  with 

plumes,  730 

The  herds  would  over-multitude  their  lords ; 
The  sea  o'erfraught  would  swell,  and  the  unsought 

diamonds 

Would  so  emblaze  the  forehead  of  the  deep, 
And  so  bestud  with  stars,  that  they  below 
Would  grow  inured  to  light,  and  come  at  last 
To  gaze  upon  the  sun  with  shameless  brows. 
List,  Lady ;  be  not  coy,  and  be  not  cozened 
With  that  same  vaunted  name,  Virginity. 
Beauty  is  Nature's  coin ;  must  not  be  hoarded, 
But  must  be  current ;   and  the  good  thereof  740 


78          SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Consists  in  mutual  and  partaken  bliss, 

Unsavoury  in  the  enjoyment  of  itself. 

If  you  let  slip  time,  like  a  neglected  rose 

It  withers  on  the  stalk  with  languished  head. 

Beauty  is  Nature's  brag,  and  must  be  shown 

In  courts,  at  feasts,  and  high  solemnities, 

Where  most  may  wonder  at  the  workmanship. 

It  is  for  homely  features  to  keep  home ; 

They  had  their  name  thence :  coarse  complexions 

And  cheeks  of  sorry  grain  will  serve  to  ply  750 

The  sampler,  and  to  tease  the  huswife's  wool. 

What  need  a  vermeil-tinctured  lip  for  that, 

Love-darting  eyes,  or  tresses  like  the  morn  ? 

There  was  another  meaning  in  these  gifts ; 

Think  what,  and  be  advised  ;  you  are  but  young  yet. 

Lady.     I  had  not  thought  to  have  unlocked  my  lips 
In  this  unhallowed  air,  but  that  this  juggler 
Would  think  to  charm  my  judgment,  as  mine  eyes, 
Obtruding  false  rules  pranked  in  reason's  garb. 
I  hate  when  vice  can  bolt  her  arguments  760 

And  virtue  has  no  tongue  to  check  her  pride. 
Impostor !  do  not  charge  most  innocent  Nature, 
As  if  she  would  her  children  should  be  riotous 
With  her  abundance.     She,  good  cateress, 
Means  her  provision  only  to  the  good, 
That  live  according  to  her  sober  laws, 
And  holy  dictate  of  spare  Temperance. 
If  every  just  man  that  now  pines  with  want 
Had  but  a  moderate  and  beseeming  share 
Of  that  which  lewdly-pampered  Luxury  770 

Now  heaps  upon  some  few  with  vast  excess, 
Nature's  full  blessings  would  be  well-dispensed 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN   MILTON          79 

In  unsuperfluous  even  proportion, 

And  she  no  with  encumbered  with  her  store ; 

And  then  the  Giver  would  be  better  thanked, 

His  praise  due  paid :  for  swinish  gluttony 

Ne'er  looks  to  Heaven  amidst  his  gorgeous  feast, 

But  with  besotted  base  ingratitude 

Crams,  and  blasphemes  his  Feeder.     Shall  I  go  on  ? 

Or  have  I  said  enow  ?     To  him  that  dares  780 

Arm  his  profane  tongue  with  contemptuous  words 

Against  the  sun-clad  power  of  chastity 

Fain  would  I  something  say  ;  —  yet  to  what  end  ? 

Thou  hast  nor  ear,  nor  soul,  to  apprehend 

The  sublime  notion  and  high  mystery 

That  must  be  uttered  to  unfold  the  sage 

And  serious  doctrine  of  Virginity ; 

And  thou  art  worthy  that  thou  shouldst  not  know 

More  happiness  than  this  thy  present  lot. 

Enjoy  your  dear  wit,  and  gay  rhetoric,  790 

That  hath  so  well  been  taught  her  dazzling  fence; 

Thou  art  riot  fit  to  hear  thyself  convinced. 

Yet,  should  I  try,  the  uncontrolled  worth 

Of  this  pure  cause  would  kindle  my  rapt  spirits 

To  such  a  flame  of  sacred  vehemence 

That  dumb  things  would  be  moved  to  sympathize, 

And  the  brute  Earth  would  lend  her  nerves,  and  shake, 

Till  all  thy  magic  structures,  reared  so  high, 

Were  shattered  into  heaps  o'er  thy  false  head. 

Comus.     She  fables  not.     I  feel  that  I  do  fear      800 
Her  words  set  off  by  some  superior  power ; 
And,  though  not  mortal,  yet  a  cold  shuddering  dew 
Dips  me  all  o'er,  as  when  the  wrath  of  Jove 
Speaks  thunder  and  the  chains  of  Erebus 


80          SHORTER    POEMS   OF  JOHN   MILTON 

To  some  of  Saturn's  crew.     I  must  dissemble, 

And  try  her  yet  more  strongly.  —  Come,  no  more ! 

This  is  mere  moral  babble,  and  direct 

Against  the  canon  laws  of  our  foundation. 

I  must  not  suffer  this ;  yet  'tis  but  the  lees 

And  settlings  of  a  melancholy  blood.  810 

But  this  will  cure  all  straight ;  one  sip  of  this 

Will  bathe  the  drooping  spirits  in  delight 

Beyond  the  bliss  of  dreams.     Be  wise,  and  taste  .  .  . 

The  BROTHERS  rush  in  with  swords  drawn,  wrest  Ms  glass  out  of  his  hand, 
and  break  it  against  the  ground :  Jiis  rout  make  sign  of  resistance, 
but  are  all  driven  in.  The  ATTENDANT  SPIRIT  comes  in 

Spir.    What !  have  you  let  the  false  enchanter  scape  ? 
0  ye  mistook  ;  ye  should  have  snatched  his  wand, 
And  bound  him  fast.     Without  his  rod  reversed, 
And  backward  mutters  of  dissevering  power, 
We  cannot  free  the  Lady  that  sits  here 
In  stony  fetters  fixed  and  motionless. 
Yet  stay  :  be  not  disturbed ;  now  I  bethink  me,        820 
Some  other  means  I  have  which  may  be  used, 
Which  once  of  Meliboeus  old  I  learnt, 
The  soothest  shepherd  that  e'er  piped  on  plains. 

There  is  a  gentle  Nymph  not  far  from  hence, 
That  with  moist  curb  sways  the  smooth  Severn  stream: 
Sabrina  is  her  name  :  a  virgin  pure ; 
Whilom  she  was  the  daughter  of  Locrine. 
That  had  the  sceptre  from  his  father  Brute. 
She,  guiltless  damsel,  flying  the  mad  pursuit 
Of  her  enraged  stepdame,  Guendolen,  830 

Commended  her  fair  innocence  to  the  flood 
That  stayed  her  flight  with  his  cross-flowing  course. 
The  water-nymphs,  that  in  the  bottom  played, 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN   MILTON          81 


Held  up  their  pearled  wrists,  and  took  her  in, 

Bearing  her  straight  to  aged  Nereus'  hall ; 

Who,  piteous  of  her  woes,  reared  her  lank  head, 

And  gave  her  to  his  daughters  to  imbathe 

In  nectared  lavers  strewed  with  asphodil, 

And  through  the  porch  and  inlet  of  each  sense 

Dropt  in  ambrosial  oils,  till  she  revived,  840 

And  underwent  a  quick  immortal  change, 

Made  Goddess  of  the  river.     Still  she  retains 

Her  maiden  gentleness,  and  oft  at  eve 

Visits  the  herds  along  the  twilight  meadows, 

Helping  all  urchin  blasts,  and  ill-luck  signs 

That  the  shrewd  meddling  elf  delights  to  make, 

Which  she  with  precious  vialed  liquors  heals: 

For  which  the  shepherds,  at  their  festivals, 

Carol  her  goodness  loud  in  rustic  lays, 

And  throw  sweet  garland  wreaths  into  her  stream    850 

Of  pansies,  pinks,  and  gaudy  daffodils. 

And,  as  the  old  swain  said,  she  can  unlock 

The  clasping  charm,  arid  thaw  the  numbing  spell, 

If  she  be  right  invoked  in  warbled  song ; 

For  maidenhood  she  loves,  and  will  be  swift 

To  aid  a  virgin,  such  as  was  herself, 

In  hard-besetting  need.     This  will  I  try, 

And  add  the  power  of  some  adjuring  verse. 

Song 
Sabrina  fair, 

Listen  where  thou  art  sitting  860 

Under  the  glassy,  cool,  translucent  wave, 

In  twisted  braids  of  lilies  knitting 
The  loose  train  of  thy  amber-dropping  hair ; 


82          SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Listen  for  dear  honour's  sake, 
Goddess  of  the  silver  lake, 
Listen  and  save ! 

Listen,  and  appear  to  us, 
In  name  of  great  Oceanus, 
By  the  earth-shaking  Neptune's  mace, 
And  Tethys'  grave  majestic  pace ;  870 

By  hoary  Nereus'  wrinkled  look, 
And  the  Carpathian  wizard's  hook  ; 
By  scaly  Triton's  winding  shell, 
And  old  soothsaying  Glaucus'  spell ; 
By  Leucothea's  lovely  hands, 
And  her  son  that  rules  the  strands ; 
By  Thetis'  tinsel-slippered  feet, 
And  the  songs  of  Sirens  sweet ; 
By  dead  Parthenope's  dear  tomb, 
And  fair  Ligea's  golden  comb,  880 

Wherewith  she  sits  on  diamond  rocks 
Sleeking  her  soft  alluring  locks ; 
By  all  the  nymphs  that  nightly  dance 
Upon  thy  streams  with  wily  glance ; 
Rise,  rise,  and  heave  thy  rosy  head 
From  thy  coral-paven  bed, 
And  bridle  in  thy  headlong  wave, 
Till  thou  our  summons  answered  have. 
Listen  and  save ! 

SABRINA  rises,  attended  by  Water-nymphs,  and  sings 

By  the  rushy-fringed  bank,  890 

Where  grows  the  willow  and  the  osier  dank, 

My  sliding  chariot  stays, 
Thick  set  with  agate,  and  the  azurn  sheen 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          83 

Of  turkis  blue,  and  emerald  green, 

That  in  the  channel  strays : 
Whilst  from  off  the  waters  fleet 
Thus  I  set  my  printless  feet 
O'er  the  cowslip's  velvet  head, 

That  bends  not  as  I  tread. 

Gentle  swain,  at  thy  request  900 

I  am  here ! 

Spir.     Goddess  dear, 
We  implore  thy  powerful  hand 
To  undo  the  charmed  band 
Of  true  virgin  here  distressed 
Through  the  force  and  through  the  wile 
Of  unblessed  enchanter  vile. 

Sabr.     Shepherd,  'tis  my  office  best 
To  help  ensnared  chastity. 

Brightest  Lady,  look  on  me.  910 

Thus  I  sprinkle  on  thy  breast 
Drops  that  from  my  fountain  pure 
I  have  kept  of  precious  cure ; 
Thrice  upon  thy  finger's  tip, 
Thrice  upon  thy  rubied  lip  : 
Next  this  marbled  venomed  seat, 
Smeared  with  gums  of  glutinous  heat, 
I  touch  with  chaste  palms  moist  and  cold. 
Now  the  spell  hath  lost  his  hold ; 
And  I  must  haste  ere  morning  hour  920 

To  wait  in  Amphitrite's  bower. 

SABKINA  descends,  and  THE  LADY  rises  out  of  her  seat 

Spir.     Virgin,  daughter  of  Locrine, 
Sprung  of  old  Anchises'  line, 


84          SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

May  thy  brimmed  waves  for  this 

Their  full  tribute  never  miss 

From  a  thousand  petty  rills, 

That  tumble  down  the  snowy  hills : 

Summer  drouth  or  singed  air 

Never  scorch  thy  tresses  fair, 

Nor  wet  October's  torrent  flood  930 

Thy  molten  crystal  fill  with  mud ; 

May  thy  billows  roll  ashore 

The  beryl  and  the  golden  ore ; 

May  thy  lofty  head  be  crowned 

With  many  a  tower  and  terrace  round, 

And  here  and  there  thy  banks  upon 

With  groves  of  myrrh  and  cinnamon. 

Come,  Lady ;  while  Heaven  lends  us  grace, 
Let  us  fly  this  cursed  place, 

Lest  the  sorcerer  us  entice  940 

With  some  other  new  device. 
Not  a  waste  or  needless  sound 
Till  we  come  to  holier  ground. 
I  shall  be  your  faithful  guide 
Through  this  gloomy  covert  wide ; 
And  not  many  furlongs  thence 
Is  your  Father's  residence, 
Where  this  night  are  met  in  state 
Many  a  friend  to  gratulate 

His  wished  presence,  and  beside  950 

All  the  swains  that  there  abide 
With  jigs  and  rural  dance  resort. 
We  shall  catch  them  at  their  sport, 
And  our  sudden  coming  there 
Will  double  all  their  mirth  and  cheer. 


SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON         85 

Come,  let  us  haste ;  the  stars  grow  high. 
But  Night  sits  monarch  yet  in  the  mid  sky. 

The  Scene  changes,  presenting  Ludlow  Town,  and  tlie  President's  Castle  : 
then  come  in  Country  Dancers ;  after  them  the  ATTENDANT  SPIRIT,  with, 
the  two  BROTHERS  and  THE  LADY 

Song 

/Spir.    Back,  shepherds,  back  !     Enough  your 

play 

Till  next  sun-shine  holiday. 
Here  be,  without  duck  or  nod,  960 

Other  trippings  to  be  trod 
Of  lighter  toes,  and  such  court  guise 
As  Mercury  did  first  devise 
With  the  mincing  Dryades 
On  the  lawns  and  on  the  leas. 

This  second  Song  presents  them  to  their  father  and  Mother 

Noble  Lord  and  Lady  bright, 
I  have  brought  ye  new  delight. 
Here  behold  so  goodly  grown 
Three  fair  branches  of  your  own. 
Heaven  hath  timely  tried  their  youth,  970 

Their  faith,  their  patience,  and  their  truth, 
And  sent  them  here  through  hard  assays 
With  a  crown  of  deathless  praise, 
To  triumph  in  victorious  dance 
O'er  sensual  folly  and  intemperance. 

The  dances  ended,  the  SPIRIT  epiloguises 

Spir.     To  the  ocean  now  I  fly, 
And  those  happy  climes  that  lie 


86          SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Where  day  never  shuts  his  eye, 

Up  in  the  broad  fields  of  the  sky. 

There  I  suck  the  liquid  air,  980 

All  amidst  the  gardens  fair 

Of  Hesperus,  and  his  daughters  three 

That  sing  about  the  golden  tree. 

Along  the  crisped  shades  and  bowers 

Kevels  the  spruce  and  jocund  Spring ; 

The  Graces  and  the  rosy-bosomed  Hours 

Thither  all  their  bounties  bring. 

There  eternal  Summer  dwells, 

And  west  winds  with  musky  wing 

About  the  cedarn  alleys  fling  990 

Nard  and  cassia's  balmy  smells. 

Iris  there  with  humid  bow 

Waters  the  odorous  banks,  that  blow 

Flowers  of  more  mingled  hue 

Than  her  purfled  scarf  can  shew, 

And  drenches  with  Elysian  dew 

(List,  mortals,  if  your  ears  be  true) 

Beds  of  hyacinth  and  roses, 

Where  young  Adonis  oft  reposes, 

Waxing  well  of  his  deep  wound,  1000 

In  slumber  soft,  and  on  the  ground 

Sadly  sits  the  Assyrian  queen. 

But  far  above,  in  spangled  sheen, 

Celestial  Cupid,  her  famed  son,  advanced, 

Holds  his  dear  Psyche,  sweet  entranced 

After  her  wandering  labours  long, 

Till  free  consent  the  gods  among 

Make  her  his  eternal  bride, 

And  from  her  fair  unspotted  side 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON         87 

Two  blissful  twins  are  to  be  born,  1010 

Youth  and  Joy ;  so  Jove  hath-  sworn. 

But  now  my  task  is  smoothly  done ; 
I  can  fly,  or  I  can  run 
Quickly  to  the  green  earth's  end, 
Where  the  bowed  welkin  slow  doth  bend, 
And  from  thence  can  soar  as  soon 
To  the  corners  of  the  moon. 
Mortals,  that  would  follow  me, 
Love  Virtue ;  she  alone  is  free. 
She  can  teach  ye  how  to  climb  1020 

Higher  than  the  sphery  chime ; 
Or,  if  Virtue  feeble  were, 
Heaven  itself  would  stoop  to  her. 


LYCIDAS 

In  this  Monody  the  Author  bewails  a  learned  Friend,  unfortunately  drowned 
in  his  passage  from  Chester  on  the  Irish  Seas,  1637  ;  and,  by  occasion,  fore- 
tells the  ruin  of  our  corrupted  Clergy,  then  in  their  height. 

YET  once  more,  0  ye  laurels,  and  once  more, 

Ye  myrtles  brown,  with  ivy  never  sere, 

I  come  to  pluck  your  berries  harsh  and  crude, 

And  with  forced  fingers  rude 

Shatter  your  leaves  before  the  mellowing  year. 

Bitter  constraint  and  sad  occasion  dear 

Compels  me  to  disturb  your  season  due ; 

For  Lycidas  is  dead,  dead  ere  his  prime, 

Young  Lycidas,  and  hath  not  left  his  peer. 


88          SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Who  would  not  sing  for  Lycidas  ?  he  knew  10 

Himself  to  sing,  and  build  the  lofty  rhyme. 
He  must  not  float  upon  his  watery  bier 
Unwept,  and  welter  to  the  parching  wind, 
Without  the  meed  of  some  melodious  tear. 

Begin,  then,  Sisters  of  the  sacred  well 
That  from  beneath  the  seat  of  Jove  doth  spring ; 
Begin,  and  somewhat  loudly  sweep  the  string. 
Hence  with  denial  vain  and  coy  excuse : 
So  may  some  gentle  Muse 

With  lucky  words  favour  my  destined  urn,  20 

And  as  he  passes  turn, 
And  bid  fair  peace  be  to  my  sable  shroud ! 

For  we  were  nursed  upon  the  self-same  hill, 
Fed  the  same  flock,  by  fountain,  shade,  and  rill ; 
Together  both,  ere  the  high  lawns  appeared 
Under  the  opening  eyelids  of  the  Morn, 
We  drove  a-field,  and  both  together  heard 
What  time  the  grey-fly  winds  her  sultry  horn, 
Battening  our  flocks  with  the  fresh  dews  of  night, 
Oft  till  the  star  that  rose  at  evening  bright  30 

Toward  heaven's  descent  had  sloped   his    westering 

wheel. 

Meanwhile  the  rural  ditties  were  not  mute ; 
Tempered  to  the  oaten  flute 

Eough  Satyrs  danced,  and  Fauns  with  cloven  heel 
From  the  glad  sound  would  not  be  absent  long ; 
And  old  Damcetus  loved  to  hear  our  song. 

But,  oh !  the  heavy  change,  now  thou  art  gone, 
Now  thou  art  gone  and  never  must  return ! 
Thee,  Shepherd,  thee  the  woods  and  desert  caves, 
With  wild  thyme  and  the  gadding  vine  o'ergrown,     40 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          89 

And  all  their  echoes,  mourn. 

The  willows,  and  the  hazel  copses  green, 

Shall  now  no  more  be  seen 

Fanning  their  joyous  leaves  to  thy  soft  lays. 

As  killing  as  the  canker  to  the  rose, 

Or  taint-worm  to  the  weanling  herds  that  graze, 

Or  frost  to  flowers,  that  their  gay  wardrobe  wear, 

When  first  the  white-thorn  blows  ; 

Such,  Lycidas,  thy  loss  to  shepherd's  ear. 

Where   were   ye,   Nymphs,  when   the   remorseless 
deep  50 

Closed  o'er  the  head  of  your  loved  Lycidas  ? 
For  neither  were  ye  playing  on  the  steep 
Where  your  old  bards,  the  famous  Druids,  lie, 
Nor  on  the  shaggy  top  of  Mona  high, 
Nor  yet  where  Deva  spreads  her  wizard  stream. 
Ay  me !  I  fondly  dream 
"  Had  ye  been  there,"  ...  for  what  could  that  have 

done  ? 

What  could  the  Muse  herself  that  Orpheus  bore, 
The  Muse  herself,  for  her  enchanting  son, 
Whom  universal  nature  did  lament,  60 

When,  by  the  rout  that  made  the  hideous  roar, 
His  gory  visage  down  the  stream  was  sent, 
Down  the  swift  Hebrus  to  the  Lesbian  shore  ? 

Alas  !  what  boots  it  with  uncessant  care 
To  tend  the  homely,  slighted,  shepherd's  trade, 
And  strictly  meditate  the  thankless  Muse  ? 
Were  it  not  better  done,  as  others  use, 
To  sport  with  Amaryllis  in  the  shade, 
Or  with  the  tangles  of  Neaera's  hair  ? 
Fame  is  the  spur  that  the  clear  spirit  doth  raise         70 


90  SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

(That  last  infirmity  of  noble  mind) 

To  scorn  delights  and  live  laborious  days ; 

But  the  fair  guerdon  when  we  hope  to  find, 

And  think  to  burst  out  into  sudden  blaze, 

Conies  the  blind  Fury  with  the  abhorred  shears, 

And  slits  the  thin-spun  life.     "  But  not  the  praise," 

Phoebus  replied,  and  touched  my  trembling  ears : 

"  Fame  is  no  plant  that  grows  on  mortal  soil, 

Nor  in  the  glistering  foil 

Set  off  to  the  world,  nor  in  broad  rumour  lies,  80 

But  lives  and  spreads  aloft  by  those  pure  eyes 

And  perfect  witness  of  all-judging  Jove  ; 

As  he  pronounces  lastly  on  each  deed, 

Of  so  much  fame  in  heaven  expect  thy  meed." 

0  fountain  Arethuse,  and  thou  honoured  flood, 
Smooth-sliding  Hindus,  crowned  with  vocal  reeds, 
That  strain  I  heard  was  of  a  higher  mood. 
But  now  my  oat  proceeds, 
And  listens  to  the  Herald  of  the  Sea, 
That  came  in  Neptune's  plea.  90 

He  asked  the  waves,  and  asked  the  felon  winds, 
What  hard  mishap  hath  doomed  this  gentle  swain  ? 
And  questioned  every  gust  of  rugged  wings 
That  blows  from  off  each  beaked  promontory. 
They  knew  not  of  his  story ; 
And  sage  Hippotades  their  answer  brings, 
That  not  a  blast  was  from  his  dungeon  strayed : 
The  air  was  calm,  and  on  the  level  brine 
Sleek  Panope  with  all  her  sisters  played. 
It  was  that  fatal  and  perfidious  bark,  100 

Built  in  the  eclipse,  and  rigged  with  curses  dark, 
That  sunk  so  low  that  sacred  head  of  thine. 


SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          91 


Next,  Camus,  reverend  sire,  went  footing  slow, 
His  mantle  hairy,  and  his  bonnet  sedge, 
Inwrought  with  figures  dim,  and  on  the  edge 
Like  to  that  sanguine  flower  inscribed  with  woe. 
"Ah!  who  hath  reft,"  quoth  he,  "my  dearest  pledge  ?  " 
Last  came,  and  last  did  go, 
The  Pilot  of  the  Galilean  Lake ; 

Two  massy  keys  he  bore  of  metals  twain  110 

(The  golden  opes,  the  iron  shuts  amain). 
He  shook  his  mitred  locks,  and  stern  bespake :  — 
"  How  well  could  I  have  spared  for  thee,  young  swain, 
Enow  of  such  as,  for  their  bellies'  sake, 
Creep,  and  intrude,  and  climb  into  the  fold ! 
Of  other  care  they  little  reckoning  make 
Than  how  to  scramble  at  the  shearers'  feast, 
And  shove  away  the  worthy  bidden  guest. 
Blind  mouths  i  that  scarce  themselves  know  how  to 

hold 

A  sheep-hook,  or  have  learnt  aught  else  the  least      120 
That  to  the  faithful  herdman's  art  belongs  ! 
What  recks  it  them  ?   What  need  they  ?  They  are  sped ; 
And,  when  they  list,  their  lean  and  flashy  songs 
Grate  on  their  scrannel  pipes  of  wretched  straw; 
The  hungry  sheep  look  up,  and  are  not  fed, 
But,  swoln  with  wind  and  the  rank  mist  they  draw, 
Rot  inwardly,  and  foul  contagion  spread ; 
Besides  what  the  grim  wolf  with  privy  paw 
Daily  devours  apace,  and  nothing  said. 
But  that  two-handed  engine  at  the  door  130 

Stands  ready  to  smite  once,  and  smite  no  more." 

Return,  Alpheus ;  the  dread  voice  is  past 
That  shrunk  thy  streams  j  return,  Sicilian  Muse, 


92  SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

And  call  the  vales,  and  bid  them  hither  cast 

Their  bells  and  flowerets  of  a  thousand  hues. 

Ye  valleys  low,  where  the  mild  whispers  use 

Of  shades,  and  wanton  winds,  and  gushing  brooks, 

On  whose  fresh  lap  the  swart  star  sparely  looks, 

Throw  hither  all  your  quaint  enamelled  eyes, 

That  on  the  green  turf  suck  the  honeyed  showers,    140 

And  purple  all  the  ground  with  vernal  flowers. 

Bring  the  rathe  primrose  that  forsaken  dies, 

The  tufted  crow-toe,  and  pale  jessamine, 

The  white  pink,  and  the  pansy  freaked  with  jet, 

The  glowing  violet, 

The  musk-rose,  and  the  well-attired  woodbine, 

With  cowslips  wan  that  hang  the  pensive  head, 

And  every  flower  that  sad  embroidery  wears ; 

Bid  amaranthus  all  his  beauty  shed, 

And  daffadillies  fill  their  cups  with  tears,  150 

To  strew  the  laureate  hearse  where  Lycid  lies. 

For  so,  to  interpose  a  little  ease, 

Let  our  frail  thoughts  dally  with  false  surmise. 

Ay  me !  whilst  thee  the  shores  and  sounding  seas 

Wash  far  away,  where'er  thy  bones  are  hurled ; 

Whether  beyond  the  stormy  Hebrides, 

Where  thou  perhaps  under  the  whelming  tide 

Visit'st  the  bottom  of  the  monstrous  world ; 

Or  whether  thou,  to  our  moist  vows  denied, 

Sleep'st  by  the  fable  of  Bellerus  old,  160 

Where  the  great  Vision  of  the  guarded  mount 

Looks  toward  Namancos  and  Bayona's  hold. 

Look  homeward,  Angel,  now,  and  melt  with  ruth : 

And,  0  ye  dolphins,  waft  the  hapless  youth. 

Weep  no  more,  woeful  shepherds,  weep  no  more, 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN   MILTON          93 


For  Lycidas,  your  sorrow,  is  not  dead, 

Sunk  though  he  be  beneath  the  watery  floor. 

So  sinks  the  day-star  in  the  ocean  bed, 

And  yet  anon  repairs  his  drooping  head, 

And  tricks  his  beams,  and  with  new-spangled  ore     170 

Flames  in  the  forehead  of  the  morning  sky  : 

So  Lycidas  sunk  low,  but  mounted  high, 

Through  the  dear  might  of  Him  that  walked  the  waves, 

Where,  other  groves  and  other  streams  along, 

With  nectar  pure  his  oozy  locks  he  laves, 

And  hears  the  unexpressive  nuptial  song, 

In  the  blest  kingdoms  meek  of  joy  and  love. 

There  entertain  him  all  the  Saints  above, 

In  solemn  troops,  and  sweet  societies, 

That  sing,  and  singing  in  their  glory  move,  180 

And  wipe  the  tears  for  ever  from  his  eyes. 

Now,  Lycidas,  the  shepherds  weep  no  more ; 

Henceforth  thou  art  the  Genius  of  the  shore, 

In  thy  large  recompense,  and  shalt  be  good 

To  all  that  wander  in  that  perilous  flood. 

Thus  sang  the  uncouth  swain  to  the  oaks  and  rills, 
While  the  still  morn  went  out  with  sandals  grey : 
He  touched  the  tender  stops  of  various  quills, 
With  eager  thought  warbling  his  Doric  lay : 
And  now  the  sun  had  stretched  out  all  the  hills,       190 
And  now  was  dropt  into  the  western  bay. 
At  last  he  rose,  and  twitched  his  mantle  blue : 
To-morrow  to  fresh  woods,  and  pastures  new. 


94          SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 


WHEN   THE    ASSAULT   WAS    INTENDED    TO 
THE   CITY 

CAPTAIN  or  Colonel,  or  Knight  in  Arms, 

Whose  chance  on  these  defenceless  doors  may  seize, 

If  deed  of  honour  did  thee  ever  please, 

Guard  them,  and  him  within  protect  from  harms. 

He  can  requite  thee ;  for  he  knows  the  charms 
That  call  fame  on  such  gentle  acts  as  these, 
And  he  can  spread  thy  name  o'er  lands  and  seas, 
Whatever  clime  the  sun's  bright  circle  warms. 

Lift  not  thy  spear  against  the  Muses'  bower : 
The  great  Emathian  conqueror  bid  spare 
The  house  of  Pindarus,  when  temple  and  tower 

Went  to  the  ground ;  and  the  repeated  air 
Of  sad  Electra's  poet  had  the  power 
To  save  the  Athenian  walls  from  ruin  bare. 


TO  A  VIRTUOUS   YOUNG   LADY 

LADY,  that  in  the  prime  of  earliest  youth 

Wisely  hast  shunned  the  broad  way  and  the  green, 
And  with  those  few  art  eminently  seen 
That  labour  up  the  hill  of  heavenly  Truth, 

The  better  part  with  Mary  and  with  Ruth 

Chosen  thou  hast ;  and  they  that  overween, 
And  at  thy  growing  virtues  fret  their  spleen, 
No  anger  find  in  thee,  but  pity  and  ruth. 

Thy  care  is  fixed,  and  zealously  attends 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          95 

To  fill  thy  odorous  lamp  with  deeds  of  light, 
And  hope  that  reaps  not  shame.    Therefore  be  sure 
Thou,  when  the  Bridegroom  with  his  feastful  friends 
Passes  to  bliss  at  the  mid-hour  of  night, 
Hast  gained  thy  entrance,  Virgin  wise  and  pure. 


TO   THE   LADY   MARGARET   LEY 

DAUGHTER  to  that  good  Earl,  once  President 
Of  England's  Council  and  her  Treasury, 
Who  lived  in  both  unstained  with  gold  or  fee, 
And  left  them  both,  more  in  himself  content, 

Till  the  sad  breaking  of  that  Parliament 
Broke  him,  as  that  dishonest  victory 
At  Chseronea,  fatal  to  liberty, 
Killed  with  report  that  old  man  eloquent, 

Though  later  born  than  to  have  known  the  days 
Wherein  your  father  flourished,  yet  by  you, 
Madam,  methinks  I  see  him  living  yet : 

So  well  your  words  his  noble  virtues  praise 

That  all  both  judge  you  to  relate  them  true 
And  to  possess  them,  honoured  Margaret. 


ON   THE    DETRACTION   WHICH    FOLLOWED 
UPON   MY   WRITING   CERTAIN   TREATISES 

A  BOOK  was  writ  of  late  called  Tetrachordon, 

And  woven  close,  both  matter,  form,  and  style ; 
The  subject  new :  it  walked  the  town  a  while, 
Numbering  good  intellects  ;  now  seldom  poured  on. 


96          SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Cries  the  stall-reader,  "  Bless  us  !  what  a  word  on 
A  title-page  is  this  !  "  ;  and  some  in  file 
Stand  spelling  false,  while   one  might   walk  to 
Mile-End   Green.     Why,  is   it   harder,  sirs, 
than    Gordon, 
Colkitto,  or  Macdonnel,  or  Galasp  ? 

Those  rugged  names  to  our  like  mouths  grow  sleek 
That  would  have  made  Quintilian  stare  and  gasp. 
Thy  age,  like  ours,  0  soul  of  Sir  John  Cheek, 
Hated  not  learning  worse  than  toad  or  asp, 
When  thou  taught 'st  Cambridge  and  King  Edward 
Greek. 


ON   THE   SAME 

I  DID  but  prompt  the  age  to  quit  their  clogs 
By  the  known  rules  of  ancient  liberty, 
When  straight  a  barbarous  noise  environs  me 
Of  owls  and  cuckoos,  asses,  apes,  and  dogs ; 

As  when  those  hinds  that  were  transformed  to  frogs 
Railed  at  Latona's  twin-born  progeny, 
Which  after  held  the  Sun  and  Moon  in  fee. 
But  this  is  got  by  casting  pearl  to  hogs, 

That  bawl  for  freedom  in  their  senseless  mood, 

And   still    revolt   when   Truth   would   set   them 

free. 
Licence  they  mean  when  they  cry  Liberty ; 

For  who  loves  that  must  first  be  wise  and  good : 
But  from  that  mark  how  far  they  rove  we  see, 
For  all  this  waste  of  wealth  and  loss  of  blood. 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          97 


ON    THE    NEW    FORCERS    OF    CONSCIENCE 
UNDER   THE   LONG  PARLIAMENT 

BECAUSE  you  have  thrown  off  your  Prelate  Lord, 
And  with  stiff  vows  renounced  his  Liturgy, 
To  seize  the  widowed  whore  Plurality 
From  them  whose  sin  ye  envied,  not  abhorred, 

Dare  ye  for  this  adjure  the  civil  sword 

To  force  our  consciences  that  Christ  set  free, 
And  ride  us  with  a  Classic  Hierarchy, 
Taught  ye  by  mere  A.  S.  and  Rutherford  ? 

Men  whose  life,  learning,  faith,  and  pure  intent, 

Would  have  been  held  in  high  esteem  with  Paul 
Must  now  be  named  and  printed  heretics 

By  shallow  Edwards  and  Scotch  What-d'ye-call ! 
But  we  do  hope  to  find  out  all  your  tricks, 
Your  plots  and  packing,  worse  than  those  of  Trent, 
That  so  the  Parliament 

May  with  their  wholesome  and  preventive  shears 

Clip  your  phylacteries,  though  baulk  your  ears, 
And  succour  our  just  fears, 

When  they  shall  read  this  clearly  in  your  charge : 

New  Presbyter  is  but  old  Priest  writ  large. 


TO   MR.  H.  LAWES   ON   HIS   AIRS 

HARRY,  whose  tuneful  and  well-measured  song 
First  taught  our  English  music  how  to  span 
Words  with  just  note  and  accent,  not  to  scan 
With  Midas'  ears,  committing  short  and  long, 


98          SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Thy  worth  and  skill  exempts  thee  from  the  throng, 
With  praise  enough  for  Envy  to  look  wan ; 
To  after  age  thou  shalt  be  writ  the  man 
That  with  smooth  air  couldst  humour  best  our 
tongue. 

Thou  honour'st  Verse,  and  Verse  must  send  her  wing- 
To  honour  thee,  the  priest  of  Phoebus'  quire, 
That  tunest  their  happiest  lines  in  hymn  or  story. 

Dante  shall  give  Fame  leave  to  set  thee  higher 
Than  his  Casella,  whom  he  wooed  to  sing, 
Met  in  the  milder  shades  of  Purgatory. 


ON  THE  RELIGIOUS  MEMORY  OF  MRS. 
CATHERINE  THOMSON,  MY  CHRISTIAN 
FRIEND,  DECEASED  DEC.  16,  1646 

WHEX  Faith  and  Love,  which  parted  from  thee  never, 
Had  ripened  thy  just  soul  to  dwell  with  God, 
Meekly  thou  didst  resign  this  earthy  load 
Of  death,  called  life,  which  us  from  life  doth  sever. 

Thy  works,  and  alms,  and  all  thy  good  endeavour, 
Stayed  not  behind,  nor  in  the  grave  were  trod ; 
But,  as  Faith  pointed  with  her  golden  rod, 
Followed  thee  up  to  joy  and  bliss  forever. 

Love  led  them  on ;  and  Faith,  who  knew  them  best 
Thy  handmaids,  clad  them  o'er  with  purple  beams 
And  azure  wings,  that  up  they  flew  so  drest, 

And  speak  the  truth  of  thee  on  glorious  themes 

Before  the  Judge ;  who  thenceforth  bid  thee  rest, 
And  drink  thy  fill  of  pure  immortal  streams. 


• 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON          99 


ON  THE  LORD  GENERAL  FAIRFAX,  AT  THE 
SIEGE   OF   COLCHESTER 

FAIRFAX,  whose  name  in  arms  through  Europe  rings, 
Filling  each  mouth  with  envy  or  with  praise, 
And  all  her  jealous  monarchs  with  amaze, 
And  rumours  loud  that  daunt  remotest  kings, 

Thy  firm  unshaken  virtue  ever  brings 

Victory  home,  though  new  rebellions  raise 
Their  Hydra  heads,  and  the  false  North  displays 
Her  broken  league  to  imp  their  serpent  wings. 

0  yet  a  nobler  task  awaits  thy  hand 

(For  what  can  war  but  endless  war  still  breed  ?) 
Till  truth  and  right  from  violence  be  freed, 

And  public  faith  cleared  from  the  shameful  brand 
Of  public  fraud.  In  vain  doth  Valour  bleed, 
While  Avarice  and  Rapine  share  the  land. 


TO   THE   LORD   GENERAL   CROMWELL, 
MAY,   1652, 

ON    THE    PROPOSALS    OF    CERTAIN    MINISTERS    AT    THE 
COMMITTEE    FOR    PROPAGATION    OF    THE    GOSPEL 

CROMWELL,  our  chief  of  men,  who  through  a  cloud 
Not  of  war  only,  but  detractions  rude, 
Guided  by  faith  and  matchless  fortitude, 
To  peace  and  truth  thy  glorious  way  hast  ploughed, 

And  on  the  neck  of  crowned  Fortune  proud 


100       SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Hast  reared  God's  trophies,  and  his  work  pursued, 
While  Darwen  stream,  with  blood  of  Scots  im- 
brued, 
And  Dunbar  field,  resounds  thy  praises  loud, 

And  Worcester's  laureate  wreath  :  yet  much  remains 
To  conquer  still ;  Peace  hath  her  victories 
No  less  renowned  than  War :  new  foes  arise, 

Threatening  to  bind  our  souls  with  secular  chains. 
Help  us  to  save  free  conscience  from  the  paw 
Of  hireling  wolves,  whose  Gospel  is  their  maw. 


TO  SIR  HENRY  VANE  THE  YOUNGER 

VANE,  young  in  years,  but  in  sage  counsel  old, 
Than  whom  a  better  senator  ne'er  held 
The  helm  of  Rome,  when  gowns,  not  arms,  repelled 
The  fierce  Epirot  and  the  African  bold. 

Whether  to  settle  peace,  or  to  unfold 

The  drift  of  hollow  states  hard  to  be  spelled ; 
Then  to  advise  how  war  may  best,  upheld, 
Move  by  her  two  main  nerves,  iron  and  gold, 

In  all  her  equipage ;  besides,  to  know 

Both  spiritual  power  and  civil,  what  each  means, 
What  severs  each,  thou  hast  learned,  which  few 
have  done. 

The  bounds  of  either  sword  to  thee  we  owe : 
Therefore  on  thy  firm  hand  Religion  leans 
In  peace,  and  reckons  thee  her  eldest  son. 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON       101 


ON  THE   LATE   MASSACEE   IN   PIEDMONT 

AVENGE,  O  Lord,  thy  slaughtered  saints,  whose  bones 
Lie  scattered  on  the  Alpine  mountains  cold ; 
Even  them  who  kept  thy  truth  so  pure  of  old, 
When  all  our  fathers  worshiped  stocks  and  stones, 

Forget  not :  in  thy  book  record  their  groanS 

Who  were  thy  sheep,  and  in  their  ancient  fold 
Slain  by  the  bloody  Piemontese,  that  rolled 
Mother  with  infant  down  the  rocks.    Their  moans 

The  vales  redoubled  to  the  hills,  and  they 

To  heaven.     Their  martyred  blood  and  ashes  sow 
O'er  all  the  Italian  fields,  where  still  doth  sway 

The  triple  Tyrant ;  that  from  these  may  grow 
A  hundredfold,  who,  having  learnt  thy  way, 
Early  may  fly  the  Babylonian  woe. 


ON   HIS   BLINDNESS 

WHEX  I  consider  how  my  light  is  spent 

Ere  half  my  days  in  this  dark  world  and  wide, 
And  that  one  talent  which  is  death  to  hide 
Lodged  with  me  useless,  though  my  soul  more  bent 

To  serve  therewith  my  Maker,  and  present 
My  true  account,  lest  He  returning  chide, 
"  Doth  God  exact  day-labour,  light  denied  ?  " 
I  fondly  ask.     But  Patience,  to  prevent 

That  murmur,  soon  replies,  "  God  doth  not  need 


102        SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 

Either  man's  work  or  his  own  gifts.     Who  best 
Bear  his  mild  yoke,  they  serve  him  best.    His  state 
Is  kingly  :  thousands  at  his  bidding  speed, 

And  post  o'er  land  and  ocean  without  rest ; 
They  also  serve  who  only  stand  and  wait." 


TO   ME.    LAWKENCE 

LAWRENCE,  of  virtuous  father  virtuous  son, 

Now  that  the  fields  are  dank,  and  ways  are  mire, 
Where  shall  we  sometimes  meet,  and  by  the  fire 
Help  waste  a  sullen  day,  what  may  be  won 

From  the  hard  season  gaining  ?     Time  will  run 
On  smoother,  till  Favonius  reinspire 
The  frozen  earth,  and  clothe  in  fresh  attire 
The  lily  and  rose,  that  neither  sowed  nor  spun. 

What"  neat  repast  shall  feast  us,  light  and  choice, 
Of  Attic  taste,  with  wine,  whence  we  may  rise 
To  hear  the  lute  well  touched,  or  artful  voice 

Warble  immortal  notes  and  Tuscan  air  ? 

He  who  of  those  delights  can  judge,  and  spare 
To  interpose  them  oft,  is  not  unwise. 


TO   CYRIACK   SKINNEE 

CYBIACK,  whose  grandsire  on  the  royal  bench 
Of  British  Themis,  with  no  mean  applause, 


Sfi 

Prom 


SHORTER   POEMS   OF  JOHN   MILTON        103 

Pronounced,  and  in  his  volumes  taught,  our  laws, 
Which  others  at  their  bar  so  often  wrench, 

To-day  deep  thoughts  resolve  with  me  to  drench 
In  mirth  that  after  no  repenting  draws ; 
Let  Euclid  rest,  and  Archimedes  pause, 
And  what  the  Swede  intend,  and  what  the  French. 

To  measure  life  learn  thou  betimes,  and  know 

Toward  solid  good  what  leads  the  nearest  way ; 
For  other  things  mild  Heaven  a  time  ordains, 

And  disapproves  that  care,  though  wise  in  show, 
That  with  superfluous  burden  loads  the  day, 
And,  when  God  sends  a  cheerful  hour,  refrains. 


TO   THE   SAME 

CYRIACK,  this  three  years'  day  these  eyes,  though  clear; 

To  outward  view,  of  blemish  or  of  spot, 

Bereft  of  light,  their  seeing  have  forgot ; 

Nor  to  their  idle  orbs  doth  sight  appear 
Of  sun,  or  moon,  or  star,  throughout  the  year, 

Or  man,  or  woman.     Yet  I  argue  not 

Against  Heaven's  hand  or  will,  nor  bate  a  jot 

Of  heart  or  hope,  but  still  bear  up  and  steer 
Right  onward.     What  supports  me,  dost  thou  ask  ? 

The  conscience,  friend,  to  have  lost  them  overplied 

In  Liberty's  defence,  my  noble  task, 
Of  which  all  Europe  rings  from  side  to  side. 

This  thought  might  lead  me  through  the  world's 
vain  mask 

Content,  though  blind,  had  I  no  better  guide. 


104        SHORTER  POEMS   OF  JOHN  MILTON 


ON   HIS   DECEASED   WIFE 

METHOUGHT  I  saw  my  late  espoused  saint 

Brought  to  me  like  Alcestis  from  the  grave, 
Whom  Jove's  great  son  to  her  glad  husband  gave, 
Rescued  from  Death  by  force,  though  pale  and  faint. 

Mine,  as  whom  washed  from  spot  of  child-bed  taint 
Purification  in  the  Old  Law  did  save, 
And  such  as  yet  once  more  I  trust  to  have 
Full  sight  of  her  in  Heaven  without  restraint, 

Came  vested  all  in  white,  pure  as  her  mind. 

Her  face  was  veiled ;  yet  to  my  fancied  sight 
Love,  sweetness,  goodness,  in  her  person  shined 

So  clear  as  in  no  face  with  more  delight. 

But,  oh !  as  to  embrace  me  she  inclined, 

I  waked,  she  fled,  and  day  brought  back  my  night. 


1 


CHRONOLOGICAL 


1608-1639.     First  Period:  Education  and  Early  Poems 

1608        Born  at  the  Spread  Eagle,  Bread  Street,  Cheapside, 
London,  December  9. 

Early  education  at  home. 
1620-25  At  St.  Paul's  School.     Friendship  with  Diodati. 

Paraphrase  on  Psalms  cxiv.  and  cxxxvi. 

1625  Enters  Christ  College,  Cambridge. 

1626  On  the  Death  of  a  Fair  Infant  dying  of  a  Cough. 
Elegia  Prima,  Ad  Carolum  Diodatum. 

1628        At  a  Vacation  Exercise  in  the  College. 
629        Degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts. 

On  the  Morning  of  Christ's  Nativity. 
Elegia  Sexta,  Ad  Carolum  Diodatum. 

1630  Upon  the   Circumcision.       The  Passion.      On    Time. 

At  a  Solemn  Music.     Song  on  May  Morning.     On 
Shakespeare. 

1631  On  the    University   Carrier.      Another  on  the  Same. 

An  Epitaph  on  the  Marchioness  of  Winchester.     On 
his  having  arrived  at  the  Age  of  Twenty-three. 

1632  Leaves  Cambridge. 
1632-38  At  Horton,  Buckinghamshire. 

1633  To  the  Nightingale.     L' Allegro.     II  Penseroso. 

1634  Arcades.     Comus. 

1637        Death  of  his  mother.     Lycidas. 

1638-39  Journey  to  the  Continent.     Italian  Sonnets. 

Returns  to  St.  Bride's,  Fleet  Street,  London. 

Epitaphium  Damonis. 

105 


106  CHRONOLOGICAL 


1640-1660.    Second  Period:   Prose  Works  and  Sonnets 

1640  At  Aldersgate  Street.     Becomes  tutor  to  his  nephews. 
First  plan  of  Paradise  Lost. 

1641  First  of  a  series  of  pamphlets  on  social  and  political 

questions.      Of  Reformation  touching  Church  Dis- 
cipline in  England. 

1642  When  the  Assault  was  intended  to  the  City. 

1643  Marriage  to  Mary  Powell.     She  deserts  him  and  he 

writes  The  Doctrine  and  Discipline  of  Divorce. 

1644  To  a  Virtuous  Young  Lady.     To  the  Lady  Margaret 

Ley.     On  Education.     Judgment  of  Martin  Bucer. 
Areopagitica.     Colasterion.     Tetrachordon. 

1645  At  Barbican.      First  edition  of  his  poems.      His  wife 

returns.     On  the  Detraction  which  followed  upon  my 
writing  Certain  Treatises.     On  the  Same. 

1646  Death  of  his  father.      On  the  New  Forcers  of  Con- 

science.    To  Mr.  H.  Lawes  on  his  Airs.     On  the  Re- 
ligious Memory  of  Mrs.  Catherine  Thomson. 

1647  At  High  Holborn,  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields. 

1648  On  the  Lord  General  Fairfax. 

1649  Tenure  of  Kings  and  Magistrates. 
Becomes  Latin  Secretary  to  Cromwell. 
Eikonoklastes. 

1651  Pro  Populo  Anglicano  Defensio. 

1652  At  Petty  France,  Westminster. 

Loss  of  sight.     To  the  Lord  General  Cromwell. 
To  Sir.  Henry  Vane  the  Younger. 
Death  of  his  wife. 

1653  The  Protectorate. 

1654  Defensio  Secunda. 

1655  On  the  Late  Massacre  in  Piedmont. 
On  his  Blindness.     To  Mr.  Lawrence. 
To  Cyriack  Skinner.     To  the  Same. 

1656  Marriage  to  Catherine  Woodcock. 
1658        Death  of  Catherine  Milton. 

On  his  Deceased  Wife. 


CHRONOLOGICAL 


107 


1659-60  Last  pamphlets. 

1660        The  Kestoration.     Milton  in  hiding  and  in  custody. 


1660-1674.     Third  Period :   The  Great  Epics 

1660        At  High  Holborn  and  Jewin  Street. 

1663  Marriage  to  Elizabeth  Minshul. 
Friendship  of  Thomas  Ellwood. 

1664  At  Artillery  Walk,  Bunhill-fields. 

1665  Paradise  Lost  completed. 
1667        Paradise  Lost  published. 

1671        Paradise  Regained  and  Samson  Agonistes  published. 
1674        Death. 


THE   CAMBRIDGE  MSS. 


THE  most  interesting  of  the  personal  relics  of  Milton 
is  the  collection  of  Mss.  now  in  possession  of  the 
Library  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge. 

From  the  last  years  of  Milton's  student  life  at  Cam- 
bridge he  kept  a  note-book  or  folio  sheets  in  which  he 
kept  first  drafts  of  his  English  pieces  or  copies  of  them. 
These  drafts,  or  emendations  of  them,  and  others  of  his 
Latin  pieces  were  the  basis  of  the  first  edition  of  his 
poems  "printed  by  his  true  copies."  The  original 
Mss.  remained  in  Milton's  possession  until  1658.  The 
latest  work  is  not  in  his  own  hand  but  in  that  of  an 
amanuensis  who  assisted  him  during  his  blindness. 
These  and  other  Mss.  after  his  death  in  1674  descended 
to  his  wife,  but  became  dispersed  about  the  time  of 
her  return  to  her  native  place  in  Cheshire.  A  portion 
of  these  Mss.  came  into  the  possession  of  Sir  Henry 
jSTewton  Puckering. 

"  It  is  just  possible,"  says  Masson,  "  that  he  may 
have  known  Milton,"  as  his  uncle  and  aunt  were 
neighbors  of  Milton  in  Aldersgate  Street.  He  was 
educated  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  and  was  a 
lover  of  books.  At  the  age  of  eighty  he  returned  to 
Trinity,  had  rooms  assigned,  and  spent  some  time  there. 
At  his  death  in  1700  he  left  his  library  of  4000 
volumes  to  his  old  college.  In  this  collection  were 
109 


110  THE  CAMBRIDGE  MSS. 

many  Mss.  of  Milton's  poems.  They  were  neglected 
for  a  long  time  until  Charles  Mason,  a  Fellow  of  the 
College,  sorted  and  arranged  them.  In  1736  Thomas 
Clarke,  another  Fellow  of  the  College,  had  them 
handsomely  bound  in  morocco;  making  a  volume  of 
fifty-four  pages,  folio  size.  On  the  inside  of  one  of  the 
covers  was  the  following  inscription:  "Membra  haec 
eruditissimi  et  poene  divini  Poetae,  olim  inisere  dis- 
jecta et  passim  sparsa,  postea  vero  fortuito  inventa,  et 
in  unum  denuo  collecta  a  Carlo  Mason,  ejusdem  Collegii 
socio,  et  inter  Miscellanea  reposita,  deinceps  ea  qua 
decuit  religione  servari  voluit  Thomas  Clarke,  nuper- 
rime  hujusce  Collegii,  nunc  vero  Medii  Templi  Londini, 
Socius,  1736."  ("These  relics  of  a  most  learned  and 
almost  divine  poet,  formerly  miserably  separated  and 
scattered,  but  afterwards  by  chance  found,  and  lately 
arranged  by  Charles  Mason,  Fellow  of  the  same  College, 
and  placed  among  the  Miscellanies,  are  at  last  to  be 
preserved  with  becoming  piety  by  the  desire  of  Thomas 
Clarke,  very  recently  of  this  College,  now  of  the  Middle 
Temple,  London,  1736.")  This  sacred  volume  is  shown 
to  visitors  at  Trinity  College  Library  in  a  glass  case. 
It  cannot  be  removed  from  the  case  for  examination 
except  by  permission  of  the  Master  and  Fellows,  and 
in  presence  of  one  of  the  Fellows. 


NOTES 

1624-1645 
PARAPHRASES  ox  PSALMS  cxiv.  AND  cxxxvi. 

LITTLE  is  known  of  Milton's  remote  genealogy  beyond  the 
fact  that  Mylton,  or  Milton,  was  a  distinct  surname  in  the  four- 
teenth century.  In  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  there  were  various 
branches  of  this  family  in  Oxfordshire  and  adjoining  counties. 
It  was  from  the  Oxfordshire  Miltons,  of  the  village  of  Great 
Milton  in  the  Hundred  of  Thame,  eight  miles  from  Oxford, 
that  the  poet  derived  his  pedigree.  His  grandfather,  Richard 
Milton,  was  a  substantial  yeoman  of  Stanton  St.  John,  about 
live  miles  from  Oxford,  within  the  forests  of  Shotover,  of  which 
he  was  under-ranger.  He  was  a  firm  Catholic,  although  it  is 
said  he  sent  his  son  John  to  Christ  Church,  Oxford.  John 
had  strong  tendencies  toward  the  Established  Church,  and,  as 
Aubrey  says,  "because  he  was  found  reading  a  Bible  in  English 
in  his  room,"  he  was  disinherited  by  his  father.  He  then  went 
up  to  London,  where  by  the  assistance  of  friends  he  established 
himself  in  the  business  of  a  scrivener,  attorney  and  law  sta- 
tioner, whose  chief  business  was  the  execution  of  deeds,  leases, 
wills,  etc. 

His  shop  was  in  Bread  Street,  Cheapside,  and  bore  the  sign 
of  the  Spread  Eagle,  which  was  either  the  family  crest  or  the 
insignia  of  the  Scriveners  Company.  Being  a  man  of  industry 
and  integrity  in  the  conduct  of  his  affairs,  he  was  soon  in  the 
way  of  substantial,  even  of  a  plentiful  fortune.  He  became 
possessor  of  the  Spread  Eagle,  and,  according  to  Aubrey,  "  of 
another  house  in  that  street,  called  the  Rose,  and  other  houses 
in  other  places."  In  1600,  when  he  was  about  thirty-seven 
years  of  age,  he  married  Sarah  Jeffrey,  a  woman  who  proved 'to 
be  in  every  way  worthy  of  her  husband.  Milton  speaks  of  her 

111 


112  NOTES 

as  "  a  most  excellent  mother,  and  particularly  known  for  her 
charities  in  the  neighborhood."  They  lived  over  the  shop,  and 
there  six  children  were  born  to  them,  of  whom  only  three  lived 
beyond  infancy,  — Anne,  John,  and  Christopher.  The  poet  was 
the  third  child.  According  to  the  Register  of  the  parish  of 
Allhallows,  "The  20th  daye  of  December  1608  was  baptized 
John,  the  Sonne  of  John  Mylton  Scrivenor."  The  young  Milton 
was  educated  at  home  by  a  tutor,  Thomas  Young,  a  Scotchman 
and  a  Puritan,  and  was  also  a  day  scholar  at  St.  Paul's.  It  is 
in  this  home,  in  this  old  Classical  school,  and  in  the  sights  and 
sounds  of  the  London  of  Shakespeare  and  Jonson,  that  the 
young  poet  is  being  nurtured. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  Revival  of  Learning  which 
came  into  England  from  Italy  stimulated  not  only  the  love  of 
art  and  literature  but  quickened  the  conscience  as  well.  Colet 
had  placed  over  the  master's  desk  in  St.  Paul's  school  the 
inscription:  "Hear  ye  Him."  Tyndale  affirmed,  "Ere  many 
years  I  will  cause  that  the  boy  that  driveth  the  plow  shall 
know  the  Scriptures."  This  was  being  realized  in  the  century 
in  which  Milton  was  born,  for  it  has  been  called  a  century  of 
Bibles,  there  having  been  published  between  1611  and  1711  no 
less  than  five  hundred  and  twenty-five  editions.  Alluding  to 
the  influence  of  the  Bible  at  this  time  Taine  says:  "Hence 
have  sprung  much  of  the  English  language,  and  half  of  the 
English  manners ;  it  was  these  big  books  that  had  transformed 
Shakespeare's  England.  To  understand  this  great  change  (from 
*  Pagan  to  Christian  Renaissance '),  try  to  picture  these  yeomen, 
these  shopkeepers,  who  in  the  evening  placed  this  Bible  on 
their  table,  and  bareheaded  with  veneration  heard  or  read  one 
of  its  chapters,  .  .  .  not  for  amusement  but  to  discover  in  it 
their  doom  of  life  and  .death.'  .  .  .  They  understand  it  with 
the  imagination  and  the  heart."  Breathing  the  atmosphere  of 
a  Puritan  home  where  life  was  deep  and  rich,  where  music  was 
heard  daily,  and  where  the  Bible  was  the  chief  textbook  in 
morals,  and  Sylvester's  translation  of  Du  Bartas'  Divine  Weekes 
and  Workes  was  the  chief  collection  of  poems,  it  is  no  wonder 
that  his  genius  was  kindled  at  the  altar  of  Hebrew  psalmody, 


NOTES  113 

and  shone  through  the  medium  of  English  undefined.  "He 
was  of  a  family  in  which  courage,  moral  nobility,  the  love  of 
art,  were  present  to  whisper  the  most  beautiful  and  eloquent 
words  about  his  cradle."  It  may  be,  as  Johnson  said,  that 
these  paraphrases  raise  no  great  expectations,  and  yet  they 
form  no  inconsiderable  evidence  that  a  "  mighty-mouth' d  in- 
ventor of  harmonies"  was  being  trained  in  the  humble  home 
over  the  shop  in  Bread  Street. 

Lowell  has  said  that  in  no  other  English  author  is  the  man  so 
large  a  part  of  his  work.  The  earliest  revelation  of  this  most 
interesting  of  the  sons  of  the  Muses  is  to  be  found  in  these 
paraphrases.  Here  is  the  first  gleam  of  the  poet's  mind  shining 
through  his  art.  They  are  probably  relics  from  many  early 
performances  at  home  and  at  St.  Paul's.  The  fact  that  Milton 
included  them  in  the  first  edition  of  his  poems  is  sufficient 
reason  for  giving  them  here. 

No  study  is  more  interesting  or  profitable  than  that  which 
reveals  the  forces  of  heredity  and  early  environment  which  have 
contributed  to  the  forming  of  the  mind  and  the  fashioning  of 
the  art  of  those  who  have  made  our  literature  fresh  and  strong. 
Especially  rewarding  is  such  study  in  the  life  and  work  of 
Chaucer,  Spenser,  Shakespeare,  and  Milton,  and  those  who 
have  given  such  lustre  to  the  literature  of  this  century,  —  Burns, 
Carlyle,  and  Scott,  Wordsworth,  Coleridge,  and  Tennyson. 
Such  study  of  the  great  writers  would  relieve  much  of  the 
tedium  in  the  reading  at  home,  in  the  school,  and  in  the  uni- 
versity, because  it  would  reveal  the  great  truth,  "That  he  who 
would  not  be  frustrate  of  his  hope  to  write  well  hereafter  in  laud- 
able things  ought  himself  to  be  a  true  poem,  that  is,  a  composi- 
tion and  pattern  of  the  best  arid  honorablest  things." — MILTON. 

"  The  child  is  father  of  the  man."  —  WORDSWORTH, 

"  Take  warning  !  he  that  will  not  sing 
While  yon  sun  prospers  in  the  blue, 
Shall  sing  for  want,  ere  leaves  are  new, 
Caught  in  the  frozen  palms  of  Spring." 

TENNYSON. 


114  NOTES 

"  These  first  years  are  the  most  impressionable  (nothing  that 
happens  after  we  are  twelve  matters  very  much):  they  are  also  the 
most  vivid  years  when  we  look  back,  until  at  the  end  what  lies 
between  bends  like  a  hoop,  and  the  extremes  meet."  —  BARRIE. 

Perhaps  the  chief  interest  which  these  paraphrases  have  for 
us  is  that  they  reveal  how  carefully  Milton  had  read  Sylvester 
and  the  older  poets.  "Apart  from  the  imitative  faculty,  these 
paraphrases,"  says  Masson,  "have  real  poetic  merit;  they  are 
clear,  finely-worded,  and  harmonious." 

PSALM  cxiv. 

1.   Terah's  faithful  son.     Cf.  Gen.  xi.  24-27. 

3.  Pharian.  Egyptian :  from  Pharos,  the  island  in  the  bay 
of  Alexandria. 

8.  froth-becurl£d.  It  will  be  well  to  note  carefully  the 
Homeric  double  words  in  Milton's  verse,  as  they  constitute  a 
singularly  beautiful  and  effective  element.  Cf.  H.  Van  Dyke, 
The  Poetry  of  Milton  (Milton  and  Tennyson). 

The  rhymes  in  9  and  10,  17  and  18  Masson  says  are  among 
Sylvester's  stereotyped  rhymes,  while  lines  13  and  14  "  look  as 
if  Sylvester  had  written  them."  Cf.  Walton's  Compleat  Angler, 
Chap.  I.,  for  interesting  allusions  to  Sylvester's  translation  of 
Du  Bartas. 

PSALM  cxxxvi. 

10.  Who.  The  initial  pronoun  here  and  in  the  four  follow- 
ing stanzas  was  "  That "  in  first  edition  in  1645.  (M.) 

45,  46.  ruddy  waves  ...  of  the  Erythraean  main.  Both 
phrases  are  from  Sylvester  : 

"  Where  th'  Erythraean  ruddy  billows  roar."    (M.) 

Erythraean,  Gr.  for  red. 
49.   walls  of  glass.     From  Sylvester. 
65,  66.   Seon  .  .  .  Ammorean. 

"  Sihon  King  of  the  Amorites." 

—  Authorised  and  Revised  Versions. 


NOTES  115 

69.    Og.     Cf.  Numbers  xxi.  33. 
89.   warble  forth.     Cf.  Sylvester  : 

"  0  Father,  grant  I  sweetly  warble  forth,"  etc.     (M.) 

1626-1673. 
ON  THE  DEATH  OP  A  FAIR  INFANT. 

Aubrey  says,  "  Milton  was  a  poet  at  eleven,"  and  Milton  him- 
self writes  that  under  the  guidance  of  his  tutor,  Thomas  Young, 
he  "penetrated  into  the  recesses  of  the  Muses,  saw  the  sacred 
and  green  places  on  Parnassus,  and  drank  the  Pierian  cups." 
In  1625  he  entered  Cambridge,  but  before  that  time  he  had 
studied  Greek,  Latin,  Hebrew,  French  and  Italian.  His  know- 
ledge of  Italian  was  due  to  his  friendship  with  Charles  Diodati, 
.son  of  an  Italian  father  and  English  mother,  who  was  his  school- 
mate at  St.  Paul's.  Diodati  entered  Oxford  shortly  before  Milton 
entered  Cambridge.  At  Cambridge  Milton  continued  hard  at 
work,  "  tied  night  and  day  to  his  books"  in  studious  and  select 
reading.  He  had  no  great  admiration  for  the  University  which 
acted  the  part  of  "Decency  and  Custom  starving  Truth,  and 
blind  Authority  beating  with  his  staff  the  child  that  might  have 
led  him."  Because  of  a  quarrel  with  his  tutor  he  was  sent  to 
London  for  a  time.  Writing  to  his  friend  Diodati  of  this  expe- 
rience he  says:  "If  this  be  exile  gladly  do  I  enjoy  my  state 
of  banishment."  It  was  during  this  visit  that  his  first  English 
poem  was  written,  on  the  death  of  his  niece  who  died  during  the 
Plague  in  London.  In  this  poem  we  find  the  wholesome  beauty 
of  the  Greek,  and  the  nobly  reverent  earnestness  of  the  Hebrew, 
revealed  in  the  verse  of  Spenser,  "  whose  poems  in  these  English 
ones  are  as  rarely  imitated  as  sweetly  excelled."  Taine  says  : 
"  Milton  was  not  born  for  the  drama,  but  for  the  ode,"  In  this 
and  the  following  poems  "the  broad  river  of  lyric  poetry 
streams  from  him,  impetuous,  with  even  flow,  splendid  as  a 
cloth  of  gold." 

In  a  pamphlet  published  in  1642,  where  Milton  defends  his 
Cambridge  career  against  the  imputations  of  those  who  had 
insinuated  that  it  was  "  inordinate  and  violent,"  we  have  some 


116  NOTES 

very  interesting  biographical  material.  He  says  that  his  early 
and  favorite  authors  were  the  elegiac  poets,  but  that  on  finding 
they  were  not  always  chaste  he  turned  to  the  "two  famous 
renowners  of  Beatrice  and  Laura  (Dante  and  Petrarch),  who 
never  write  but  honour  of  them  to  whom  they  devote  their 
verse.'1  Not  long  after,  he  was  "  confirmed  in  the  opinion,  that 
he  who  would  not  be  frustrate  of  his  hope  to  write  well  here- 
after in  laudable  things,  ought  himself  to  be  a  true  poem.  .  .  . 
Next,  for  hear  me  out  now,  readers,  that  I  may  tell  ye  whither 
my  younger  feet  wandered,  I  betook  me  among  those  lofty 
fables  and  romances  which  recount  in  solemn  cantos  the  deeds 
of  knighthood  founded  by  our  victorious  kings.  ...  I  read  in 
the  oath  of  every  knight,  that  he  should  defend  to  the  expense  of 
his  best  blood,  or  of  his  life,  if  it  so  befel  him,  the  honour  and 
chastity  of  virgin  or  matron.  From  whence  even  then  I  learned 
what  a  noble  virtue  chastity  ever  must  be."  The  divine  volumes 
of  Plato  taught  him  that  "  Love  begins  and  ends  in  the  soul,  and 
produces  those  happy  twins  of  her  divine  generation  —  Know- 
ledge and  Virtue."  It  is  to  reveal  this  divine  Love,  Knowledge 
and  Virtue  that  the  college  poems  were  written. 

Cf.  Sonnet,  On  his  having  arrived  at  the  age  of  Twenty- 
three,  p.  33. 

Milton  never  swerved  from  this  lofty  ideal  of  what  a  poet 
should  be.  His  instinct  for  knowledge  and  his  instinct  for  con- 
duct and  beauty  kept  him  true.  Believing  that  truth  is  beauty, 
beauty  truth,  he  felt  that  it  was  enough,  and  so 

"  Set  his  eye  upon  the  goal, 
Not  on  the  prize." 

"The  nearest  poet  to  Milton  in  this  respect,"  wrote  Masson, 
in  1851,  "has  undoubtedly  been  Wordsworth."  We  are  now 
adding  to  the  followers  of  Milton  in  this  respect  another  great 
name,  and  are  associating  Wordsworth  and  Tennyson  as  he  did 
Milton  and  Wordsworth. 

"  Perhaps  there  are  few  clearer  signs  of  a  strong  character  than 
the  wisdom  to  perceive,  and  the  determination  to  follow,  that 
course  by  which  the  individual  may  best  reach  the  ideal  that  he 


NOTES  117 

is  intended  to  reach.     Wordsworth  is  another  great  example  of 
this ;  he  had  the  strength  to  give  up  a  career  and  to  live  on  a 
pittance  in  solitude  that  he  might  brood  over  and  bring  to  per- 
fect expression  the  thoughts  which  have  made  him  immortal." 
ROBERTSON  NICOLL,  Heview  of  Tennyson's  Memoir. 

"Poetic  numbers  came 
Spontaneously  to  clothe  in  priestly  robe 
A  renovated  spirit  singled  out, 
Such  hope  was  mine,  for  holy  services." 

WORDSWORTH,  Prelude,  i.  51-54. 

"Ah  !  need  I  say,  dear  friend  !  that  to  the  brim 
My  heart  was  full ;  I  made  no  vows,  but  vows 
Were  then  made  for  me  ;  bond  unknown  to  me 
Was  given,  that  I  should  be,  else  sinning  greatly, 
A  dedicated  spirit." 

Prelude,  iv.  333-337. 

"  I  agree  with  Wordsworth  that  art  is  selection.  The  higher 
moral  imagination  enslaved  to  sense  is  like  an  eagle  caught  by 
the  feet  in  a  snare  baited  with  carrion,  so  that  it  cannot  use  its 
wings  to  soar."  —TENNYSON  (Memoir}. 

Cf.  TENNYSON,  The  Poet,  The  Poet's  Mind,  The  Poet's  Song, 
Poets  and  Critics. 

As  one  who  has  some  conception  of  the  fundamental  laws  of 
music  will  be  all  the  more  likely  to  enjoy  the  work  of  great 
composers,  so  one  who  knows  some  of  the  principles  of  English 
verse  will  be  more  likely  to  enjoy  the  marshalling  of  melodious 
words  as  revealed  in  Chaucer,  Spenser,  Shakespeare,  Milton, 
Wordsworth  and  Tennyson.  While  a  consideration  of  the 
means  should  never  be  allowed  to  obscure  the  great  end  of  the 
study  of  poetry  —  enjoyment,  it  may  be  wisely  allowed  as  an 
important  adjunct. 

A  very  simple  method  of  indicating  the  grouping  of  syllables 
in  the  verse  is  to  let  x  stand  for  the  unaccented,  and  a  for  the 
accented  syllables.  A  verse  like  that  of  this  poem  is  composed 


118  NOTES 

of  five  groups  of  xa  syllables.  The  stanza  is  modified  Spenserian 
—  six  5  xa  verses  and  an  Alexandrine,  6  xa.  The  rhyme-scheme 
is  ab,  ab,  bcc.  The  normal  Spenserian  stanza  is  eight  5  xa 
verses  and  an  Alexandrine.  With  this  key  it  will  require  but 
little  effort  to  master  the  verse  of  this  "  Godgifted  organ-voice 
of  England." 

A  study  of  the  verse  of  a  few  poems,  together  with  careful 
oral  reading,  will  do  much  toward  creating  a  quick  perception 
by  eye  and  ear. 

1.  0  fairest  flower,  etc.  Cf.  Shakespeare,  Passionate  Pil- 
grim, x. : 

"  Sweet  rose,  fair  flower,  untimely  plucked,  soon  vaded. 
Plucked  in  the  bud,  and  vaded  in  the  spring  ! 
Bright  orient  pearl,  alack,  too  timely  vaded  ! 
Fair  creature,  killed  too  soon  by  death's  sharp  sting." 

"  Milton's  taste  had  now  outgrown  Sylvester,"  says  Masson. 

5.  amorous  on.     Cf.  Much  Ado,  ii.  1.     "Amorous  on  Hero." 

6.  envermeil.    To  make  red  as  with  vermilion.    Cf.  Comus, 
752. 

6,  7.  thought  to  kiss,  etc.  "  He  thought  to  kiss  him,  and 
hath  kill'd  him  so."  Venus  and  Adonis,  1110. 

8-10.  grim  Aquilo,  etc.  Boreas  (Aquilo)  carried  off  Oreith- 
yia,  daughter  of  Erechtheus  the  Athenian  king. 

13.   eld.    Old  age. 

15.  icy-pearldd.  Lowell  says,  "  Milton  loved  phrases  of 
towering  port,  in  which  every  member  dilated  stands  like 
Teneriffe  or  Atlas." 

23-27.  For  so  Apollo,  etc.  Hyacinthus  of  Sparta  was  acci- 
dentally killed  by  Apollo,  and  from  his  blood  grew  the  flower 
that  bears  his  name. 

36.  Resolve  me.  Inform  me.  "Resolve  me  whether  you 
will  or  no,"  Richard  III.  iv.  2. 

39.  that  high  first-moving  sphere.  The  primum  mobile  or 
outermost  sphere  in  the  Ptolemaic  cosmogony.  Cf.  Paradise 
Lost,  iii.  481-483. 


NOTES  119 

"  They  pass  the  planets  seven,  and  pass  the  fixed, 
And  that  crystalline  sphere  whose  balance  weighs 
The  trepidation  talked,  and  that  first  moved." 
43-46.   Wert  thou,  etc.     An  allusion  to  the  war  of  the  Titans 
against  Jove. 

47.   Earth's  sons.    The  Titans. 

50.  just  Maid.  Astraea,  daughter  of  Zeus  and  Themis, 
lived  on  earth  in  the  golden  age,  but  forsook  it  at  last  for  her 
home  among  the  stars. 

53.    Mercy.     In  the  original  this  line  is  two  syllables  short,  so 
this  word  was  inserted  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  John  Heskin, 
Christ  Church,  Oxford.    (M.)     Cf.  Ode  on  the  Nativity,  141-148. 
55.   heavenly  brood.     The  personified  virtues.     (K.) 

58.  weed.    Apparel.    Cf.  L' Allegro,  120. 

59.  prefixed.    Ordained. 

68.   pestilence.     The  Plague. 

"  When,  first,  arose  the  image  in  my  breast 
Of  England's  suffering  by  that  scourge,  the  Pest." 

Elegy  iii. 

1628-1673 
AT  A  VACATION  EXERCISE  IN  THE  COLLEGE 

Milton  was  not  long  absent  from  the  University.  On  his 
return  another  tutor  was  assigned  him,  and  "pervaded  with 
pleasure  "  he  continued  his  work. 

This  fragment  was  a  part  of  his  Prolusiones  Oratoriae 
(Rhetorical  Essays)  in  Latin,  which  were  first  published  in 
1674,  and  was  itself  first  printed  in  the  edition  of  1673.  The 
essays  were  seven  in  number  and  were  upon  scholastic  and 
philosophical  subjects,  such  as,  Whether  Day  or. Night  is  More 
Excellent,  Of  the  Music  of  the  Spheres,  etc.  The  sixth,  in 
which  this  fragment  in  English  is  found,  was  a  speech  delivered 
by  Milton  In  the  hall  of  Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  on  the 
occasion  of  a  periodical  revel  after  the  close  of  the  Easter  term 
on  July  4th.  The  translation  of  the  Latin  title  is :  "In  the 
Summer  Vacation  of  the  College,  but  in  the  presence,  as  usual, 


120  NOTES 

of  a  concourse  of  nearly  the  whole  youth  of  the  University,  an 
Oration  to  this  effect:  That  occasional  sportive  exercises  are 
not  inconsistent  with  philosophical  studies."  Milton  had  been 
elected  Master  or  Father  of  the  revel.  It  was  the  custom  of 
this  Father  to  make  a  speech  full  of  humor  and  personalities. 
He  called  those  in  the  audience  his  sons,  and  gave  them  such 
suggestive  names  as  Beef,  Pork  and  Mutton ;  Head,  Neck  and 
Breast;  Sack,  Rhenish  and  Sherris.  But  Milton  broke  this 
custom.  He  divided  his  speech  into  three  parts,  first  a  serio- 
comic discourse  on  the  theme  "that  sportive  exercises  on  occa- 
sion are  not  inconsistent  with  the  studies  of  Philosophy"; 
secondly,  the  harangue  in  which  he  assumes  the  character  of 
Father  ;  and  thirdly,  the  conclusion  in  English  prose  and  verse. 
In  the  first  part  he  thanks  them  for  the  honor  they  have  con- 
ferred upon  him ;  in  the  second  he  assigns  names  to  his  sons, 
but  they  are  names  taken  from  Aristotle's  Predicaments,  heads 
under  which  all  things  thinkable  must  fall.  Ens  or  Being  was 
father  to  Substance,  Quality,  Quantity,  Relation,  etc.  Thus 
we  see  how  distinctly  autobiographical  this  poem  with  its  Latin 
introductions  is.  Here  we  have  those  inward  springs  of  his 
character  revealed :  the  love  of  sportive  exercises  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  joy  of  thoughtfulness  on  the  other.  These 
unfolded  in  all  their  beauty  will  give  us  IS  Allegro  and  II 
Penseroso. 

llev.  F.  D.  Maurice  says:  "It  is  only  a  boyish  effort,  with 
much  of  boyish  redundancy  in  style  and  thought ;  but  I  know 
few  more  striking  proofs  that  the  boy  is  father  of  the  man." 

It  is  worth  noting  here  that  in  using  the  English  Milton 
defied  a  law  of  the  University  which  required  that  only  Latin 
should  be  used  on  such  occasions. 

1-10.  Hail,  Native  Language,  etc.  Emerson  says  :  "  He  pre- 
ferred his  own  English,  so  manlike  he  was,  to  the  Latin,  which 
contained  all  the  treasures  of  his  memory.  '  My  mother  bore 
me,'  he  said,  '  a  speaker  of  what  God  made  mine  own,  and  not 
a  translator.'  He  told  the  Parliament  that,  'the  imprimaturs 
of  Lambert  House  had  been  writ  in  Latin ;  for  that  our  English, 
the  language  of  men  ever  famous  and  foremost  in  the  achieve- 


NOTES  121 

merits  of  liberty,  will  not  easily  find  servile  letters  enow  to  spell 
such  a  dictatory  presumption.'  " 

12.   thither.     In  the  Latin  part  of  the  exercise. 

20.  our  late  fantastics.  An  allusion  to  the  Poetical  Euphu- 
ists  who  followed  John  Lyly. 

"  He  draweth  out  the  thread  of  his  verbosity  finer  than  the 
staple  of  his  argument.  I  abhor  such  fanatical  phantasms,  such 
insociable  and  point-devise  companions."  —  Loves  Labours  Lost, 
v.  1. 

"  Such  antic  lisping,  affecting  fantasticoes,  these  new  tuners 
of  accents."  —  Borneo  and  Juliet,  ii.  4. 

"  Easy  was  the  task  : 

A  thousand  handicraftsmen  wore  the  mask 
Of  Poesy."  —  KEATS,  Sleep  and  Poetry. 

29-46.  Yet  I  had  rather,  etc.  This  very  noble  passage,  in 
form  and  content,  suggests  Paradise  Lost.  In  Milton's  cos- 
mogony (Ptolemaic)  the  earth  was  surrounded  by  ten  spheres 
representing  the  orbits  of  seven  Planets :  Moon,  Mercury, 
Venus,  the  Sun,  Mars,  Jupiter,  and  Saturn ;  the  orbit  of  fixed 
stars  ;  the  crystalline  sphere  ;  and  the  primum  mobile,  —  the 
outer  rim  or  shell  which  separated  the  universe  from  empty 
space.  Heaven  lies  outside  of  these  spheres,  above  the  "wheel- 
ing poles."  After  looking  into  this  Homeric  Pantheon,  he 
returns  through  the  "watchful  fire,"  or  fixed  stars,  and  the 
spheres  of  the  seven  planets  to  the  "misty  regions"  of  our 
atmosphere,  to  sea  and  earth.  Cf.  Tennyson,  In  Memoriam, 
LXXVI.  : 

"  Take  wings  of  fancy,  and  ascend, 
And  in  a  moment  set  thy  face 
Where  all  the  starry  heavens  of  space 
Are  sharpen'd  to  a  needle's  end." 

31.   coffers.     Chests. 

42.   piled  thunder.     Thunder  clouds. 

47-52.  And  last  of  kings,  etc.  An  allusion  to  Odyssey,  viii., 
where  King  Alcinotis  entertains  Ulysses  at  a  feast  at  which  the 
blind  bard  Demodocus  sings  the  story  of  the  Trojan  war  : 


122  NOTES 

"  So  sang  renouned  Demodocus ;  the  strain 
Melted  to  tears  Ulysses,  from  whose  lids 
They  dropped  and  wet  his  cheeks.     As  when  a  wife 
Weeps  her  beloved  husband,  slain  before 
His  town  and  people." 

52.  In  willing  chains.  Cf.  Sylvester,  "  The  willing  chains  of 
my  captivity."  (M.) 

56.   keep  in  compass.     Keep  to  the  assigned  part. 

59.  Good  luck,  etc.  Masson  says  :  "  The  reader  must  dis- 
tinctly fancy  Milton  in  person  turning  at  this  point  to  some 
book  of  a  student." 

66.  walk  invisible.  According  to  Aristotle  mortals  knew 
not  substance  or  existence,  only  phenomena. 

74-88.  Shall  subject  be  to  many  an  Accident.  A  play  upon 
the  theory  of  Aristotle  that  Ens,  or  Being,  was  divided  into  Ens 
per  se,  or  Substance,  and  Ens  per  accidens,  or  Accident.  Acci- 
dent is  thus  the  condition  which  reveals  Being  as  phenomenon. 
The  idea  is  that  Being,  or  Substance,  cannot  be  revealed  without 
the  aid  of  his  brothers,  Quantity,  Quality,  etc.,  and  that  they 
are  useless  without  him. 

91-100.  Rivers  arise.  The  name  of  the  youth  who  took  the 
part  of  Relation  is  thus  associated  with  the  rivers  of  England. 
Masson  tells  us  that  until  1859  it  was  not  known  that  a  youth 
of  this  name  took  part,  and  hence  the  passage  disturbed  the 
critics.  Tweed,  the  river  dividing  England  from  Scotland ; 
Ouse  and  Don,  Yorkshire  rivers.  Drayton  in  his  Polyolbion 
alludes  to  the  "  thirty  streams  "  of  Trent.  Severn  in  Surry,  cf. 
Comus,  824,  note.  Avon,  in  Bristol ;  Lea,  near  London  ;  Dee, 
near  Chester  ;  Humber,  in  north  of  England. 

Milton's  fondness  for  the  pun  is  obvious  in  all  his  works. 
Perhaps  the  best  illustration  of  it  is  in  Paradise  Lost,  vi.  610 
fol.  Alluding  to  their  victory,  due  to  the  invention  of  guns  and 
gunpowder,  Satan  says : 

"  To  entertain  them  fair  with  open  front 
And  breast  (what  could  we  more  ?)  propounded  terms 
Of  composition,'1'1  etc. 


NOTES  123 

Again  : 

' '  The  terms  we  sent  were  terms  of  weight 
Of  hard  contents  and  full  of  force  urged  home 
Such  as  we  might  perceive  amused  them  all 
And  stumbled  many,"  etc. 

Cf.  Faerie  Queene,  IV.  xi.  20  : 

"And  after  him  the  famous  rivers  came, 
Which  doe  the  earth  enrich  and  butifie." 

95.   Mole  that  runneth  underneath.    Cf.  Faerie  Queene,  IV. 

"And  mole  that  like  a  nousling  mole  doth  make 
His  way  still  underground." 

"  Camden  tells  us  of  a  river  in  Surrey,  it  is  called  the  Mole, 
that  after  it  has  run  several  miles,  being  opposed  by  hills,  finds 
or  makes  itself  a  way  underground,  and  breaks  out  again  so  far 
off,  that  the  inhabitants  thereof  boast,  as  the  Spaniards  do  of 
their  river  Anus,  that  they  feed  divers  flocks  of  sheep  upon  a 
bridge."  —  WALTON,  Compleat  Angler,  Chap.  I. 


1629-1645 

ON  THE  MORNING  OF  CHRIST'S  NATIVITY 

Milton  sent  this  poem  with  a  letter  to  his  friend  Diodati.  "  It 
is  a  gift,"  he  says,  "  I  have  presented  to  the  natal  day  of  Christ. 
At  daybreak  of  that  very  morning  it  was  conceived." 

In  Latin,  Elegy  vi.,  To  Charles  Diodati,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing : 

"  Wouldst  thou  (perhaps  'tis  hardly  worth  thine  ear), 
Wouldst  thou  be  told  my  occupation  here  ? 
The  promised  King  of  peace  employs  my  pen, 
The  eternal  covenant  made  for  guilty  men, 
The  new-born  Deity  with  infant  cries 
Filling  the  sordid  hovel,  where  he  lies  ; 


124  NOTES 

The  hymning  Angels,  and  the  herald  star, 
That  led  the  Wise  who  sought  him  from  afar, 
And  idols  on  their  own  unhallowed  shore 
Dashed,  at  his  birth,  to  be  revered  no  more." 

That  Milton  was  early  a  dedicated  spirit,  set  apart  for  holy 
services,  is  revealed  in  this  poem.  Masson  in  his  delightful 
essay  Miltoii's  Youth  says:  "As  nature  had  endowed  him  in 
no  ordinary  degree  with  that  most  exquisite  of  her  gifts,  the  ear 
and  the  passion  for  melody,  he  had  studied  music  as  an  art,  and 
had  taught  himself  not  only  to  sing  in  the  society  of  others,  but 
also  to  touch  the  keys  for  his  solitary  pleasure." 

In  the  mingling  of  Hebraism  and  Hellenism  with  Christianity 
and  the  emphasis  put  upon  the  blight  of  the  Fall  as  revealed  in 
Nature  as  well  as  in  Man,  we  have  the  elements  of  Paradise 

Lost : 

"  All  my  mind  was  set 

Serious  to  learn  and  know,  and  thence  to  do, 
What  might  be  public  good  ;  myself  I  thought 
Born  to  that  end,  born  to  promote  all  truth, 
All  righteous  things." 

Paradise  Regained,  i.  202-206. 

"  In  spite  of  his  classical  culture  and  his  Renaissance  sense  of 
beauty,  Milton  saw  as  the  prime  fact  of  the  world,  Diabolus  at 
odds  with  Immanuel."  — DOWDEN. 

The  influence  of  Spenser  and  Shakespeare  may  be  seen  in  the 
poems  of  this  period  of  Milton's  work,  but  it  is  the  influence  of 
teachers,  not  masters.  The  one  great  gift  —  a  vital  soul,  "  cer- 
tain vital  marks" — is  everywhere  present  in  this  poem,  al- 
though at  the  same  time  there  is  excess  of  ornament  and  lack  of 
artistic  proportion  characteristic  of  youth. 

'  Mr.  Saintsbury  says  :  "  Nowhere  even  in  Milton  does  the  mas- 
tery of  harmonies  appear  better  than  in  the  exquisite  rhythmical 
arrangement  of  the  piece,  in  the  almost  unearthly  beauty  of  the 
exordium,  and  in  the  famous  stanzas  beginning,  '  The  oracles 
are  dumb.'  It  must  be  remembered  that  at  this  time  the  Eng- 
lish lyric  was  in  a  very  rudimentary  and  ill-organized  condition." 


NOTES  125 

Rev.  F.  D.  Maurice  cites  this  poem  as  an  illustration  of 
Milton's  habit  of  making  "  all  the  stories  of  Heathen  Mythology 
unfold  and  illustrate  the  truth  ;  which  we  are  apt  to  use  only  for 
the  exposure  and  confutation  of  their  absurdity.  I  think  Spenser 
and  Milton  have  done  more  both  to  counteract  the  mischief  of 
paganism  and  to  vindicate  the  use  of  the  treasures  which  it  has 
bequeathed  to  us  than  all  the  Apologists." 

Mr.  Richard  Garnett  alluding  to  the  last  stanza  says  :  "By 
an  exquisite  turn  the  poet  sinks  back  into  his  original  key,  and 
finally  harmonizes  his  strain  by  the  divine  repose  of  a  concluding 
picture  worthy  of  Correggio." 

1.   This  the  happy  morn,  etc.  : 

"That  happy  morn 
When  angels  spake  to  men  aloud, 
And  Thou  and  peace  to  earth  were  born." 

TENNYSON. 

5.   holy  sages.     Prophets. 
14.   darksome  house.     Cf.  II  Penseroso,  9. 

23.  wizards.     Wise  men.     Cf.  Faerie  Queene,  I.  iv.  12  : 

"  The  antique  wizards  well  invented 
That  Venus  of  the  foamy  sea  was  bred." 

24.  Oh  !  run,  etc.     Cf.  Drummond  of  Hawthornden's  Flowers 
of  Sion  : 

"  Run,  Shepherds,  run  where  Bethlem  blest  appears."     (M.) 
prevent.     To  get  before  them.     Cf.  Merchant  of  Venice,  i.  1 : 

"  I  had  stayed  till  I  had  made  you  merry 
If  worthier  friends  had  not  prevented  me." 

27.  Angel  Quire.     Luke  ii.  13,  14. 

28.  secret  altar.     Isaiah  vi.  6. 

36.  wanton  with  the  Sun,  etc.     Cf.  Elegy  v. : 

"  Earth  now  desires  thee,  Phoebus  !  and  to  engage 
Thy  warm  embrace,  casts  off  the  guise  of  age." 

39.   guilty  front.    The  Mediaeval  idea  that  nature  was  evil. 


126  NOTES 

For  contrast  to  this  see  Wordsworth  or  Coleridge,  who  do  not 
degrade  nature  even  to  extol  God. 

48.  turning  sphere.  Here  Milton  views  the  ten  spheres  as 
one  universe. 

50.   turtle.     Turtle-dove.     Cf.  Winter's  Tale,  v.  3  : 

"I,  an  old  turtle, 
Will  wing  me  to  some  wither'd  bough." 

53-60.    No  war,  etc.     The  world  in  contrast  to  this  Babe. 
hookdd.     Scythe-bearing. 

64,  65.  The  winds  with  wonder  whist,  etc.  Hushed.  Cf. 
"Ariel's  Song"  : 

"  Curtsied  when  you  have,  and  kiss'd 
The  wild  waves  whist." 

Tempest,  i.  2. 

66.   Ocean.  Pronounced  in  three  syllables. 
68.   birds  of  calm.     Halcyons.     Sea  is  calm  at  time  of  their 
incubation  in  winter  solstice. 
71.   precious  influence.     Allusion  to  astrology. 
73.   For  all,  etc.     Cf.  Macbeth,  iv.  2  : 

"  My  father  is  not  dead  for  all  your  saying." 

77-84.  And,  though  the  shady  gloom,  etc.  Cf.  Spenser, 
Shepheards  Calendar  (April) : 

"  He  blushed  to  see  another  Sun  below, 
Ne  durst  again  his  fiery  face  outshow. 

Let  him  if  he  dare, 

His  brightness  compare 
With  hers,  to  have  the  overthrow." 

85.  lawn.     Clear  place  in  the  forest. 

86.  Or  ere.     Cf.  Hamlet,  i.  2  : 

"  Would  I  had  met  my  dearest  foe  in  heaven 
Or  ever  I  had  seen  that  day,  Horatio." 

88.   than.     Old  form  of  then. 


NOTES  127 

89.   mighty  Pan.     The  real  being  so  long  dreamt  of  as  Pan, 

the  god  of  shepherds..    (M.)     Cf.  Shepheards  Calendar  (May): 

"  When  great  Pan  accent  of  shepherdes  shall  aske." 
95.   strook.     Old  form  for  struck.    Cf .  Paradise  Lost,  vi.  863  : 

"The  monstrous  sight 
Strook  them  with  horror  backward." 

Cf.  Paradise  Regained : 
"  So  strook  with  dread  and  anguish  fell  the  Fiend."  —  iv.  576. 

"And  thou  were  the  kindest  man  that  ever  strake  with 
sword."  —  MALORY,  Morte  D"1  Arthur. 

97.  noise.     Cf .  Ancient  Mariner : 

"  Yet  still  the  sails  made  on 
A  pleasant  noise  till  noon." 

98.  As  all.     Suppose  "such"  of  line  93  repeated  before 
"divinely  warbled."     (M.) 

100.    close.     Cadence. 

106.    its.     Used  by  Milton  only  three  times.     Paradise  Lost : 

"  The  mind  is  its  own  place,"  etc.  —  i.  254. 

"returns 
Of  force  to  its  own  likeness."  —  iv.  813. 

116.   unexpressive.   Unexpressible.    Cf .  As  You  Like  It,  iii.  3  : 

"The  fair,  the  chaste,  the  unexpressive  she." 
117-124.    Such  music,  etc.     Cf.  Job  xxxviii.  4-12  : 

"  Whereupon  were  the  foundations  thereof  fastened  ? 
Or  who  laid  the  corner  stone  thereof  ; 
When  the  morning  stars  sang  together  ?  "  etc. 

Cf.  Paradise  Lost,  vii.  561,  562  : 

"  The  heavens  and  all  the  constellations  rung, 
The  planets  in  their  stations  listening  stood,"  etc. 


128  NOTES 

125-132.  Ring  out,  etc.  Masson  tells  us  that  about  the  time 
of  writing  this  poem,  Milton  wrote  a  prose  piece,  De  Sphaera- 
ntm  Concentu,  in  which  he  held  that  celestial  music  might  be 
perceived  by  minds  duly  prepared. 

130.    And  let  the  bass,  etc.     "  The  instruments  which  Milton 
preferred  as  a  musician  were  the  organ  and  the  bass  viol."  (M.) 
132.    consort.     Fellowship.     Cf.   Faerie  Queene,  III.   i.  46: 
"  Wonder  was  to  hear  their  trim  consort." 
136.    speckled.     Covered  with  plague  spots. 
141,  142.   Truth  and  Justice,  etc.     As  Astraea  was  to  return  to 
earth,  according  to  the  old  myth,  when  the  Golden  Age  should 
come  again. 

147,  148.  And  Heaven,  etc.  Cf.  Tennyson,  In  Memoriam, 
Ixxxv. : 

"  The  great  Intelligences  fair 

That  range  above  our  mortal  state, 
In  circle  round  the  blessed  gate, 
Received  and  gave  him  welcome  there." 

168.  The  Old  Dragon.     Cf.  Eev.  xx.  1-3. 

172.  Swinges.     Lashes. 

173.  The  Oracles  are  dumb.    The  gods  of  the  heathen  are 
extinct. 

185.    poplar  pale.    White  poplar. 

191.  Lars  and  Lemures.  God  of  the  family;  and  spirits, 
ghosts  and  goblins. 

194.  flamens.     Priests. 

195.  chill    marble,   etc.      A    prodigy  common   among   the 
ancients. 

197-220.  Peor  and  Baalim,  etc.  Cf.  Paradise  Lost,  i.  392- 
489,  for  these  Phoenician,  Assyrian  and  Egyptian  gods. 

201.  queen  and  mother  both.  In  Selden's  De  Diis  Sijris, 
Ashtaroth  is  alluded  to  as  regina  coeli  and  mater  deum.  (M.) 

223.  eyn  or  eyne.  Old  plural  of  eye.  Common  in  Chaucer, 
Spenser  and  Shakespeare. 

Milton  and  Tennyson  were  fond  of  phonetic  spelling  where  it 
would  aid  the  music, 


NOTES  129 

226.  Typhon  huge.  Greek  name  for  Egyptian  god  Set,  or 
Suti,  one  of  the  brothers  of  Osiris.  (M.) 

232-234.  The  flocking  shadows,  etc.  Cf.  Midsummer  NigM s 
Dream,  Hi.  2  : 

"  And  yonder  shines  Aurora's  harbinger  ; 
At  whose  approach  ghosts  wandering  here  and  there 
Troop  home  to  churchyards." 

Cf.  also  Hamlet,  i.  4  : 

"  Fare  thee  well  at  once  ! 
The  glow  worm  shows  the  matin  to  be  near." 

235,  236.   the  yellow-skirted  fays,   etc.     The  fairies  haste 
away  at  morn,  following  the  nightmares  or  nighthags.     (M.) 
Cf .  Paradise  Lost,  ii.  662,  663  : 

"  Nor  uglier  fellow,  the  nighthag,  when,  called 
In  secret,  riding  through  the  air  she  comes." 

240.  youngest  teeme'd.  Latest  born,  Star  of  Bethlehem.  Cf. 
Macbeth,  iv.  3 : 

"  Each  minute  teems  a  new  one." 

244.  Bright-harnessed.    Bright  armored.    Cf.  Macbeth,  v.  5  : 
"  We'll  die  with  harness  on." 

1630-1645 

UPON  THE  CIRCUMCISION 
(In  Milton's  own  hand  in  the  Cambridge  MSS.) 

The  year  1630  gives  us  this  and  the  following  five  poems 
which  are  sufficient  to  establish  the  Miltonic  tone,  because  of 
their  richness  of  epithet,  originality  of  diction,  and  suggestive- 
ness  of  phrase. 

The  first  stanza  of  the  poem  reveals  the  fact  that-  it  was 
intended  as  a  sequel  to  the  previous  poem  in  the  Nativity. 
Masson  assigns  it  to  the  Feast  of  Circumcision  (January  1)  fol- 
lowing the  Christmas  of  1(529. 

The  reader  should  study  what  Mr.  Stopford  Brooke  has  called 


130  NOTES 

"the  abrupt  and  powerful  rhythm  which  suits  so  well  the  quick 
rush  and  quick  closing  of  condensed  thought." 

M.  Edmond  Scherer,  the  French  critic,  says  :  "  There  is 
nothing  (in  the  Milton  of  the  early  poems)  repulsive  or  morose. 
He  is  pure  without  too  much  severity,  grave  without  fanaticism  ; 
full  of  original  dainties,  of  gracious  strength.  He  is  a  son  of 
the  North  who  has  felt  the  Italian  influence  :  an  aftergrowth  of 
the  Renaissance,  but  a  growth  full  of  strange  and  novel  flavor." 

1.  Ye  flaming  Powers  and  winged  Warriors  bright.  Sera- 
phim and  Cherubim. 

2-6.  That  erst  with  music,  etc.  Milton  thus  connects  this 
poem  with  the  preceding. 

7-9.  Your  fiery  essence,  etc.  If  it  is  impossible  for  your 
angelic  constitutions,  formed  as  they  are  of  fire,  to  yield  tears, 
yet  by  burning  as  you  sigh,  you  may  borrow  the  water  of  our 
tears  turned  into  vapor.  (M.) 

10.   whilere.     A  while  since. 

"  Will  you  troll  the  catch 
You  taught  me  but  while-ere  ?  " 

Tempest,  in.  2. 

15-20.   0  more  exceeding  love,  etc.     Cf.  Browning,  Saul  : 

"  All's  love  yet  all's  law." 
24.   excess.     Transgression. 

1630-1645 
THE  PASSIOX 

The  opening  stanza  of  this  poem  reveals  its  relation  to  the 
poem  on  the  Nativity.  Masson  says  this  was  probably  written 
for  Easter.  Perhaps  the  fact  that  the  Plague  ravaged  Cambridge 
during  the  Easter-term  may  have  lent  color  to  the  poem. 

It  is  naturally  very  difficult  to  eliminate  from  these  poems 
impressions  brought  from  associating  with  the  Milton  of  Para- 
dise Lost,  but  it  must  be  done  if  we  are  to  read  the  poems  in 
the  atmosphere  which  produced  them.  Masson  says  that  the 
habitual  seriousness  of  Milton  at  this  time  was  not  that  of  u  the 


NOTES  131 

noble  party  of  Puritans,  but  a  constitutional  seriousness  ratified 
and  nourished  by  rational  reflection." 

It  seems  that  Milton  early  planned  a  series  of  poems  in  cele- 
bration of  each  division  of  the  Christian  Year,  but  that  (as  the 
note  appended  to  this  reveals)  he  found  the  task  too  great  for 
him. 

1.   Erewhile.    Allusion  to  the  Ode  on  the  Nativity. 
4.   divide  to  sing.     To  share  the  song. 

13.    Most  perfect  Hero.     Hebrews  ii.  10. 

19.  mask.  Masque  or  drama,  thus  carrying  out  the  idea  of 
line  2. 

23.   my  Phoebus.     My  song. 

25,  26.  otherwhere  are  found,  etc.  By  Marco  Girolamo 
Vida  of  Cremona  in  his  Latin  Poem  The  Christiad.  (M.) 

84,  35.  The  leaves  should  all  be  black,  etc.  "  In  old  elegies 
the  pages  were  black  and  the  letters  white."  (M.) 

36-39.    See,  see  the  chariot,  etc.     Ezekiel  i. 

43.    sepulchral  rock.    The  Holy  Sepulchre. 

51.   Take  up  a  weeping,  etc.     Jeremiah  ix.  10. 

56.  Had  got  a  race  of  mourners.     Ixion-like. 

1630-1645 
ON  TIME 

(In  Milton's  own  hand  in  the  Cambridge  MSS.) 

The  title  of  this  poem  in  the  Cambridge  Mss.  of  Milton  is  : 
On  Time  —  To  be  set  on  a  Clock  Case.  This  explains  the 
"  plummet's  pace"  in  the  third  line. 

Compare  the  movement  of  this  poem  with  that  of  The  Cir- 
cumcision. Which  is  the  more  powerful  ? 

3.    heavy  plummet's  pace.     Cf.  Shakespeare,  Sonnet  Ixxvii. 

"Thou  by  thy  dial's  shady  stealth  mayst  know 
Time's  thievish  progress  to  eternity." 

12.  individual.  Here  and  elsewhere  in  Milton  in  the  sense 
of  not  to  be  separated  from.  Cf .  Paradise  Lost  : 

"  Henceforth  an  individual  solace  dear."  — iv.  480. 


132  NOTES 

"  With  thousand  lesser  lights  dividual  holds."  —  vii.  382. 
"And  from  her  hath  no  dividual  being."  —  xii.  85. 

18.  happy-making  sight.  "  Beatific  vision."  Cf.  Paradise 
Lost,  iii.  62 : 

"  And  from  his  sight  receiv'd 
Beatitude  past  utterance." 

1630-1645 

AT  A  SOLEMN  Music 
(Three  drafts  in  Milton's  own  hand  in  the  Cambridge  MSS.) 

The  title  might  well  be  At  a  Symphony.  Milton  was  nurt- 
ured in  an  atmosphere  of  song.  His  father  was  a  musician 
and  composer  of  some  reputation.  His  compositions  have 
found  a  place  in  collections  of  the  best  music.  He  composed 
the  tunes  of  York  and  Norwich  so  universal  now.  He  contrib- 
uted to  a  volume  of  Madrigals  known  as  The  Triumphes  of 
Oriana,  sung  before  Queen  Elizabeth  ;  and  his  music  appears 
in  many  other  collections. 

"  Thyself 

Art  skilled  to  associate  verse  with  airs 
Harmonious,  and  give  the  human  voice 
A  thousand  modulations,  heir  by  right 
Indisputable  of  Arion's  fame. 
Now  say,  what  wonder  is  it  if  a  son 
Of  thine  delight  in  verse,  if  so  conjoined 
In  close  affinity,  we  sympathise 
In  social  arts,  and  kindred  studies  sweet." 

Ad  Patrem. 

In  his  Tractate  on  Education  Milton  said  of  the  interim  be- 
tween exercise  and  meat:  "It  may,  both  with  profit  and  de- 
light, be  taken  up  in  recreating  and  composing  their  (the  pupils) 
travailed  spirits  with  the  solemn  and  divine  harmonies  of  music, 
heard  or  learned  ;  either  while  the  skilful  organist  plies  his 
grave  and  fancied  descant  in  lofty  fugues,  or  the  whole  sym- 
phony with  artful  and  unimaginable  touches  adorn  and  grace 


NOTES  .     133 

the  well-studied  chords  of  some  choice  composer;  sometimes 
the  lute  or  soft  organ-stop  waiting  on  elegant  voices,  either  to 
religious,  martial,  or  civil  ditties ;  which,  if  wise  men  and 
prophets  do  not  extremely  err,  have  a  great  power  over  disposi- 
tions and  manners  to  smooth  and  make  them  gentle." 

Masson  says  :  "  Often  must  Milton  as  a  child  have  bent  over 
his  father  while  composing,  or  listened  to  him  as  he  played. 
Not  unfrequently  of  an  evening,  if  one  or  two  of  his  father's 
musical  acquaintances  dropt  in  there  would  be  voices  enough  in 
the  Spread  Eagle  for  a  little  household  concert.  Then  might 
the  well  printed  and  well  kept  set  of  Orianas  be  brought  out ; 
and  each  one  present  taking  a  suitable  part,  the  child  might 
hear,  and  always  with  fresh  delight  his  father's  own  madrigal : 

'  Then  sang  those  shepherds  and  nymphs  of  Diana, 
Long  live  fair  Oriana,  long  live  fair  Oriana.' 

Nor  would  the  opening  words  of  the  27th  Psalm,  doubtless  often 
sung  in  the  family  to  York  tune,  be  without  a  deeper  significance  : 

'  The  Lord  is  both  my  health  and  light ; 
Shall  men  make  me  dismayed  ? '  etc. 

Joining  with  his  young  voice  in  these  exercises  of  the  family 
the  boy  became  a  singer  as  soon  as  he  could  speak.  We  see 
him  going  to  the  organ  for  his  own  amusement,  picking  out 
little  melodies  by  the  ear,  and  stretching  his  tiny  fingers  in 
search  of  pleasing  chords." 

Green  says:  "Milton's  youth  shows  us  how  much  of  the 
gayety,  the  poetic  ease,  the  intellectual  culture  of  the  renas- 
cence lingered  in  the  Puritan  home." 

De  Quincey  was  the  first  to  compare  the  Miltonic  movement 
to  the  qualities  of  an  organ  voluntary,  and  Tennyson  in  his 
magnificent  tribute  has  elaborated  the  figure. 

Mr.  Richard  Garnett  says  :  "  This  is  perhaps  the  most  perfect 
expression  of  Milton's  ideal  of  song." 

Mr.  Stopford  Brooke  says:  "The  spirit  and  power  of  this 
poem  may  be  best  expressed  by  saying  that  Milton 

'  His  loud  uplifted  angel  trumpet  blew.'  " 


134  NOTES 

' '  In  the  Abbey  Church  of  Te wksbury  are  still  heard  the 
tones  of  the  very  organ  on  which  Milton  played  before  Crom- 
well at  Hampden  Court ;  and  the  picture  thus  evoked  from  the 
past  symbolizes  the  true  influence  of  poets  such  as  Dante  and 
Milton  on  the  conduct  of  a  commonwealth."  — ERNEST  MYERS. 
Wordsworth  in  his  sonnet  on  the  Sonnet  uses  this  expression 
referring  to  Milton : 

"In  his  hand 

The  thing  became  a  trumpet ;  whence  he  blew 
Soul-animating  strains  —  alas,  too  few." 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  Milton  had  in  mind  the  music  of 
King's  College  Chapel  to  which  Wordsworth  alludes : 

'-'List!  O  list! 

The  music  bursteth  into  second  life  ; 
The  notes  luxuriate,  every  stone  is  kissed 
With  sound,  or  ghost  of  sound,  in  mazy  strife  ; 
Heart-thrilling  strains,  that  cast  before  the  eye 
Of  the  devout,  a  veil  of  ecstasy." 

Inside  King's  College  Chapel. 

Tennyson  on  revisiting  Cambridge  says  : 

"And  heard  once  more  in  College  fanes, 
The  storm  their  high-built  organs  make, 
And  thunder-music,  rolling,  shake 
The  prophets  blazon" d  on  the  panes." 

In  Memoriam,  LXXXVII. 

Cf.  Washington  Irving's  description  of  music  in  Sketch  Book 
(Westminster  Abbey).     Cf.  Gray,  Ode  for  Music. 

By  comparing  the  three  drafts  of  this  poem  in  the  Cambridge 
Mss.  we  get  a  good  idea  of  Milton's  care  in  recasting. 

3.  This  line  originally  was  :   ' '  Mix  your  choice  words,  and 
happiest  sounds  employ." 

4,  5.    Between  these  lines  there  was  in  the  first  draft  the  fol- 
lowing : 

"  And  whilst  your  equal  raptures,  temper' d  sweet, 
In  high  mysterious  spousal  meet, 


NOTES  135 

Snatch  us  from  earth  a  while,  • 

Us  of  ourselves  and  native  woes  beguile." 

0.    concent.     Latin  concentus,  harmony. 

10.  burning.    This  was  "princely  "  in  first,  and  "  trifled  "  in 
second  draft. 

11.  This  line  has  three  forms : 

(1)  "Their  loud  immortal  trumpets  blow." 

(2)  "Loud  symphony  of  silver  trumpets  blow." 

(3)  "  High-lifted,  loud,  and  angel-trumpets  blow." 

12.  Originally  : 

"  And  Cherubim,  sweet  winged  squires," 

14.    victorious.     Originally  "the  blooming." 
10.    holy.     Originally  "  sacred. " 

7-10.    sapphire-coloured    throne,    etc.      Cf.    Ezekiel   i.    20 ; 
Revelation  v.,  xi. 
After  line  16  in  the  first  draft  was  a  couplet  now  omitted : 

"  While  all  the  starry  rounds  and  arches  blue 
Resound  and  echo  Hallelu." 

18.  After  this  line  in  first  draft  there  were  three  lines,  now 
omitted,  in  place  of  the  seven  we  now  have  : 

"  By  leaving  out  those  harsh  ill-sounding  jars 
Of  clamorous  sin  that  all  our  music  mars  : 
And  in  our  lives  and  in  our  song 
May  keep  in  tune  with  Heaven,"  etc. 

In  the  second  draft,  the  first  two  lines  here  are  : 

"  By  leaving  out  those  harsh  chromatic  jars 
Of  sin  that  all  our  music  mars." 

19.  did,  originally  "could."     This  line  reminds  us  of  the  first 
in  Paradise  Lost: 

"  Of  man's  first  disobedience,"  etc. 

"27.    consort.     Society. 
28.    Originally: 

"To  live  and  sing  with  Him  in  ever-endless  light." 


136  NOTES 

Other  variations  are  : 

"  To  live  and  sing  with  Him  in  ever-glorious  light." 

"  To  live  and  sing  with  Him  in  uneclipsed  light." 

"To  live  and  sing  with  Him  where  Day  dwells  without  Night." 

"  To  live  and  sing  with  Him  in  endless  morn  of  light." 

"  To  live  and  sing  with  Him  in  cloudless  birth  of  light." 

"  To  live  and  sing  with  Him  in  never-parting  light."     (M.) 

1630-1645 
SONG  ON  MAY  MORNING 

This  little  poem  reminds  us  of  those  exquisite  snatches  in  the 
Elizabethan  dramatists,  and  suggests  the  charm  of  L1  Allegro. 

"  And  fresscher  than  the  May  with  floures  newe,  — 

For  May  wole  han  no  sloggardye  anight. 
The  sesoun  priketh  every  gentil  herte, 
And  maketh  him  out  of  his  sleep  to  sterte, 
And  seith,  '  Arys,  and  do  thin  observaunce,' 
To  don  honour  to  May." 

CHAUCER,  Knight's  Tale. 

Mr.  Augustine  Birrell  says  :  "  A  study  of  these  minor  poems 
will  enable  us  half  sadly  to  realize  how  much  went  and  how 
much  was  sacrificed  to  make  the  author  of  Paradise  Lost." 

1630-1632-1645 

ON  SHAKESPEARE 

This  perfect  little  poem  first  appeared  printed  anonymously 
in  the  Second  Folio  of  Shakespeare's  Works,  1632,  with  the  title, 
An  Epitaph  on  the  Admirable  Dramatick  Poet,  W.  Shakespeare. 
The  First  Folio  was  published  in  1623,  two  years  before  Milton 
entered  Cambridge,  and  we  must  believe  that  he  would  not  be 
long  without  one  of  these  in  his  possession.  How  carefully  he 
read  it,  and  how  completely  he  was  in  sympathy  with  the  mind 
of  the  great  dramatist  is  revealed  in  this  poem,  perhaps  the 
greatest  of  all  great  tributes  paid  to  this  child  of  Fancy.  Masson 


NOTES  137 

has  given  a  suggestive  hint  as  to  the  origin  of  the  poem .  He  thinks 
that  it  was  probably  written  in  Milton's  copy  of  the  First  Folio. 
In  the  original  editions  of  Milton's  poems  it  bears  the  date  1630. 
It  is  but  natural  to  compare  this  poem  with  Ben  Jorison's 
prefixed  to  the  First  Folio  : 

2To  tjje  iflemorg  of  mg  fcelofceti, 
THE   AUTHOK, 

MR.  WILLIAM  SHAKESPEARE; 

AND 
WHAT  HE  HATH  LEFT  US. 

"Soule  of  the  Age  ! 
The  applaufe  !  delight !  the  wonder  of  our  Stage  ! 

My  Shakespeare,  rife  :  I  will  not  lodge  thee  by 
Chaucer,  or  Spenfer,  or  bid  Beaumont  lye 

A  little  further,  to  make  thee  a  roome  : 
Thou  art  a  Moniment,  without  a  tombe, 

And  art  alive  ftill,  while  thy  Booke  doth  live, 
And  we  have  wits  to  read,  and  praise  to  give. 

Sweet  Swan  of  Avon  !  what  a  fight  it  were 
To  fee  thee  in  our  waters  yet  appeare, 

And  make  those  flights  upon  the  bankes  of  Thames, 
That  fo  did  take  Eliza,  and  our  James  ! 

But  ftay,  I  fee  thee  in  the  Hemisphere 
Advanc'd,  and  made  a  conftellation  there  ! 

Shine  forth  !  thou  Starre  of  Poets,  and  with  rage, 
Or  influence,  chide,  or  cheere  the  drooping  Stage ; 

Which,  fince  thy  flight  fro  hence,  hath  mourn' d  like  night, 
And  defpaires  day,  but  for  thy  Volumes  light." 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  the  occasion  of  this  poem. 
Was  it  that  about  this  time  a  monument  to  Shakespeare  was 
being  proposed?  The  Stratford  monument  was  erected  as 
early  as  1623,  for,  in  the  First  Folio,  we  have  the  lines  of 
Leonard  Digges  : 


138  NOTES 

'  Shakespeare,  at  length  thy  pious  fellowes  give 
The  world  thy  Workes  ;  thy  VVorkes,  by  which  outlive 
Thy  Tombe  thy  name  must :  when  that  stone  is  rent 
And  Time  dissolves  thy  Stratford  Moniment, 
H.ere  we  alive  shall  view  thee  still.     This  Book, 
When  Brass  and  Marble  fade,  shall  make  thee  look 
Fresh  to  all  Ages." 

4.  star-ypointing.  This  is  of  Milton's  coining,  as  the  prefix 
y  belongs  only  to  past  passive  participle.  Cf.  L1  Allegro,  12  : 

"In  heaven  yclept  Euphrosyne." 

8.  livelong.   In  the  print  of  Second  Folio  this  is  lasting.    (M.) 

9,  10.     to  the  shame  of  slow-endeavoring  art,  etc.     Does  this 
imply  that  Milton  wrought  with  slowness  ? 

Heminge  and  Condell,  the  editors  of  the  First  Folio  of  Shake- 
speare's works,  said:  "His  mind  and  hand  went  together; 
and  what  he  thought  he  uttered  with  that  easiness  that  we  have 
scarce  received  from  him  a  blot  on  his  papers."  Ben  Jonson 
says  :  "  He  was  indeed  honest,  of  an  open  and  free  nature  ;  had 
an  excellent  phantasy,  brave  notions,  and  gentle  expressions; 
wherein  he  flowed  with  that  facility  that  sometimes  it  was 
necessary  he  should  be  stopped." 

11.  unvalued.     Invaluable. 

12.  Delphic.     Inspired. 

14.  Dost  make  us  marble,  etc.  Masson  says  :  "  '  Dost  turn 
MS  into  marble  by  the  effort  of  thought  to  which  thou  compellest 
us,'  a  very  exact  description  of  Shakespeare's  effect  on  his 
readers.  The  sense  being  that  we,  Shakespeare's  readers,  are 
the  true  marble  of  his  tomb,  or  monument." 

1631-1645 
ON  THE  UNIVERSITY  CARRIER 

These  two  pieces  are  interesting  more  from  their  subject,  than 
from  any  real  merit  which  they  possess. 

Thomas  Hobson  was  an  important  character  in  the  life  of  the 
University  for  more  than  sixty  years.  During  that  time  he  had 


NOTES  139 

made  weekly  trips  to  Bull  Inn,  Bishopgate  Street,  as  carrier  of 
parcels,  letters  and  passengers.  Such  a  man  was  likely  to  get 
very  close  to  the  students,  for  he  kept  a  stable  and  let  horses. 
When  a  student  was  riding  too  fast,  Hobson  would  cry  out, 
"  You  will  get  there  sooner  if  you  don't  ride  too  fast." 

It  is  recorded  that  he  required  every  student  to  take  the  horse 
nearest  the  door  of  the  stable,  "so  that  every  customer  was 
alike  well  served  according  to  his  chance,  and  every  horse  ridden 
with  the  same  justice."  Hence  the  common  saying,  "  Hobson's 
choice." 

He  continued  his  trips  until  he  was  eighty-six,  and  then  the 
Plague  broke  out  in  Cambridge ;  the  colleges  were  closed  and 
the  town  quarantined.  He  escaped  the  Plague,  but,  according 
to  Milton,  enforced  idleness  caused  his  death,  Jan.  1,  1631. 
He  left  quite  a  fortune,  and  provided  that  a  town  conduit  be 
perpetually  maintained,  and  this,  known  as  Hobson's  Conduit, 
can  be  seen  at  the  present  time. 

Milton  was  not  very  successful  in  his  attempts  to  be  humorous, 
but  amends  are  made  for  this  in  the  fact  that  he  reveals  his  love 
for  the  old  man.  Cf.  Wordsworth's  Waggoner,  and  Cowper's 
"Post-boy"  in  The  Task. 

5.    'Twas.     He  was. 

8.   Dodged  with  him.    Followed  him. 

11-18.  But  lately,  finding,  etc.  Death  is  of  course  the 
omitted  subject  here. 

ANOTHER  ON  THE  SAME 

5.    Sphere-metal.     As  enduring  as  the  spheres. 

14.  Too  long  vacation  hastened  on  his  term.  A  play  upon 
the  contrast  of  Long  Vacation  in  college  and  Term  time. 

20.  six  bearers :  of  the  coffin  containing  the  University 
Carrier. 

29,  30.  Obedient  to  the  moon.  Hobson  made  four  journeys 
a  month,  two  round  trips.  (M. ) 

32.  wain.  Waggon.  The  play  is  on  the  sound  of  wain  and 
wane. 


140  NOTES 

1631-1645 
AN  EPITAPH  ON  THE  MARCHIONESS  or  WINCHESTER 

Masson  tells  us  that  in  an  old  Ms.  volume  of  poems  tran- 
scribed for  private  use  by  some  lover  of  poetry  early  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  now  in  the  Ayscough  collection  in  the  British 
Museum,  is  this  poem  with  the  inscription,  "  On  the  Marchioness 
of  Winchester,  who  died  in  childbedd,  April  15,  1631.  Jo. 
Milton,  ofChr.  Coll  Cambr." 

The  beautiful  and  accomplished  lady  was  the  daughter  of 
Thomas,  Viscount  Savage,  and  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  Earl 
of  Rivers.  Her  husband  was  John  Paulet,  fifth  Marquis  of 
Winchester.  Paulet  was  a  Roman  Catholic  and  took  a  promi- 
nent part  in  the  civil  wars.  The  fact  that  Milton  wrote  this 
poem  shows  conclusively  that  he  had  no  strong  antipathy  to 
Catholics  at  this  time.  Ben  Jonson,  then  poet-laureate,  wrote 
an  elegy  upon  the  same  occasion,  which  appears  as  the  one 
hundredth  in  his  collection  entitled  Underwoods : 

' '  What  gentle  ghost,  besprent  with  April  dew, 
Hails  me  so  solemnly  to  yonder  yew  ? 
And  beckoning  woos  me  from  the  fatal  tree 
To  pluck  a  garland  for  herself  and  me  ? 
I  do  obey  you,  beauty,  for  in  death 
You  seem  a  fair  one. 

Her  sweetness,  softness,  her  fair  courtesy, 
Her  wary  guards,  her  wise  simplicity, 
Were  like  a  ring  of  Virtues  'bout  her  set, 
And  Piety  the  centre  where  all  met. 
A  reverend  state  she  had,  an  awful  eye, 
A  dazzling,  yet  inviting  majesty. 


Let  angels  sing  her  glories,  who  did  call 
Her  spirit  home  to  her  original ; 
Who  saw  the  way  was,  made  it,  and  were  sent 
To  carry  and  conduct  the  compliment 


NOTES  141 

'Twixt  death  and  life,  where  her  mortality 
Became  her  birthday  to  eternity." 

Mr.  Stopford  Brooke,  speaking  of  Milton's  poem,  says  :  "  The 
metre,  the  seven-syllabled  trochaic,  the  trick  of  which  as  used 
with  wonderful  sweetness  by  Shakespeare  and  the  Elizabethans 
we  seem  to  have  lost,  was  never,  even  by  Milton  himself,  more 
exquisitely  used  than  in  this  little  lyric." 

Throughout  these  poems  we  notice  the  foundation  laid  in 
religion  pure  and  undefiled.  The  superstructure  is  of  the  en- 
during quality  of  Greek  and  Latin,  while  the  decorations  are  of 
the  Renaissance. 

7,  8.  Summers  three  times  eight,  etc.  She  died  when  but 
twenty-three  years  of  age. 

13.   had  had  no  strife.     She  would  have  lived  to  old  age. 
14-24.    In  the  original  Ms.  instead  of  these  lines  the  following 
are  found : 

.   .  .  "to  her  life 
Seven  times  had  the  yearly  starre 
Of  everie  signe  sett  upp  his  carr 
Since  for  her  they  did  request 
The  god  that  sitts  at  marriage  feasts, 
When  first  the  earlie  matrons  runne 
To  greet  her  of  her  lovelie  sonne. 
And  now,"  etc.     (M.) 

17.  The  virgin  quire.     Bridesmaids. 

22.  cypress-bud.  Cypress,  the  symbol  of  mourning.  Cf.  In 
Memoriam,  LXXXIV.  : 

"  But  that  remorseless  iron  hour 
Made  cypress  of  her  orange-flower." 

24.    lovely  son.     He  became  sixth  Marquis  of  Winchester. 

26.   Lucina.     Goddess  of  childbirth. 

28.  Atropos.  The  three  Fates  were  Clotho,  who  spun 
the  thread  of  life  ;  Lachesis,  who  decided  its  length  ;  and 
Atropos,  who  cut  it  off.  ("slits  the  thin-spun  life."  —  Lycidas, 
76.) 


142  NOTES 

35.   slip.     Plant. 

50.    seize.     In  the  legal  sense  of  possess. 

56.   Helicon.     Mountain  of  the  Muses. 

58.  hearse.     Tomb. 

59.  Came.     Cambridge.     Masson  suggests  that  this  may  have 
been  but  one  of  many  elegies  written  on  this  occasion  at  Cam- 
bridge. 

63-70.  That  fair  Syrian  shepherdess.  Rachel.  Cf.  Gen. 
xxix.,  xxx.,  xxxv. 

1631-1645 

ON  His  HAVING  ARRIVED  AT  THE  AGE  OF  TWENTY-THREE 
(In  Milton's  own  hand  in  the  Cambridge  MSS.) 

Among  the  Italians  there  originated  a  form  of  verse  combina- 
tion in  which  a  special  rhyme  arrangement  prevailed  ;  to  this  the 
name  "  sonnet "  was  given.  It  was  a  short  poem  limited  to  the 
expression  of  a  single  idea  ;  soon  fourteen  lines  became  the  fixed 
length,  and  later  these  lines  were  combined  according  to  intri- 
cate rules.  Following  these  rules  the  ideal  sonnet  should  con- 
form to  the  following  conditions:  It  must  consist  of  fourteen 
5  xa  verses  divided  into  two  systems  —  the  major  system,  con- 
sisting of  the  first  eight  lines,  complete  in  themselves ;  and  then 
the  minor  system,  with  six  concluding  lines.  The  major  system 
should  contain  but  two  rhymes:  1,  4,  5,  8,  and  2,  3,  6,  7,  con- 
cluding with  a  pause  in  the  sense.  In  the  minor  system  there 
should  be  only  two  rhymes:  9,  11,  13,  and  10,  12,  14.  Other 
rules  were  laid  down,  many  of  which  were  merely  capricious, 
but  these  were  insisted  upon. 

The  earliest  forms  of  the  sonnet  belong  to  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury. Era  Guittone  d'Arrezzo  furnished  the  model  for  Dante 
and  Petrarch,  who  perfected  this  form  of  writing,  the  one  giving 
it  strength,  the  other  beauty.  That  period  of  English  literature 
which  was  the  prelude  to  the  age  of  Spenser  and  Shakespeare 
received  its  main  impulse  from  Italy.  The  influence  of  Chaucer 
had  declined,  and  intellectual  life  disappeared  with  religious 
liberty. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  nobility,  possibly 


NOTES  143 

shamed  by  the  contrast  to  the  Scottish  court,  began  to  give 
some  thought  to  the  education  of  their  children.  The  literary 
centre  of  Europe  was  at  the  brilliant  court  of  Lorenzo  de  Medici, 
and  hither  flocked  the  scholars  of  all  countries.  When  English- 
men returned  filled  with  enthusiasm,  and  became  tutors,  they 
stimulated  their  pupils  with  a  desire  to  visit  Italy,  the  land  of 
promise. 

It  was  to  this  secondary  influence  of  the  Revival  of  Learning 
that  the  new  movement  in  literature  was  due.  The  heralds  of 
the  dawn  were  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt,  and  Henry  Howard,  Earl  of 
Surrey,  "  who  had  tasted  the  sweet  and  stately  measures  and 
style  of  Italian  poesy."  To  them  belongs  the  honor  of  reform- 
ing the  literature  and  introducing  the  sonnet  into  our  language. 
Petrarch  was  their  model,  and  love  their  theme.  Wyatt  fol- 
lowed the  Italian  model  very  closely,  and  his  work  is  character- 
ized by  strength  and  dignity.  Surrey  introduced  some  changes 
into  the  form  of  the  sonnet :  he  divided  it  into  three  independent 
quatrains,  and  closed  with  a  couplet.  His  work  was  distinguished 
for  grace  and  beauty. 

During  the  last  ten  years  of  the  sixteenth  century  and  the 
first  ten  of  the  seventeenth  there  was  a  most  remarkable  pro- 
duction of  sonnets.  The  list,  headed  by  Sidney,  contains  the 
names  of  Daniel,  Constable,  Lodge,  Watson,  Drayton,  Spenser, 
and  Shakespeare. 

It  was  the  Renaissance  which  gave  charm  and  refreshment  to 
English  poetry,  and  Spenser  is  a  child  of  the  Renaissance.     His 
sonnets  —  the  story  of  his  "patient  wooing  and  happy  winning 
of  the  lady  of  his  love" — are  characterized  by  ardor,  grace 
and  tenderness.     The  following  is  a  dedication  of  all  his  "leaves, 
lines,  and  rymes"  bearing  the  message  of  love  : 
"  Happy,  ye  leaves !  when  as  those  lilly  hands, 
Which  hold  my  life  in  their  dead-doing  might, 
Shall  handle  you,  and  hold  in  love's  soft  hands, 
Lyke  captives  trembling  at  the  victor's  sight. 
And  happy  lines  !  on  which,  with  starry  light, 
Those  lamping  eyes  will  deigne  sometimes  to  look, 
And  reade  the  sorrowes  of  my  dying  spright, 


144  NOTES 

Written  with  teares  in  harts  close-bleeding  booke. 

And  happy  rymes  !  bath'd  in  the  sacred  brooke 

Of  Helicon,  whence  she  derived  is  ; 

When  ye  behold  that  Angels  blessed  looke, 

My  soules  long-lacked  foode,  my  heaven's  bliss, 

Leaves,  lines,  and  rymes,  seeke  her  to  please  alone, 
Whom  if  ye  please,  I  care  for  other  none  !  " 

Spenser  often  devoted  the  three  quatrains  of  a  sonnet  to  a 
single  figure,  as  in  this : 

"  Lyke  as  a  huntsman  after  weary  chace, 
Seeing  the  game  from  him  escapt  away, 
•Sits  downe  to  rest  him  in  some  shady  place, 
With  panting  hounds  beguiled  of  their  pray  : 
So,  after  long  pursuit  and  vaine  assay, 
When  I  all  weary  had  the  chace  forsooke, 
The  gentle  deare  returned  the  selfe  same  way, 
Thinking  to  quench  her  thirst  at  the  next  brooke. 
There  she,  beholding  me  with  mylder  looke, 
Sought  not  to  fly,  but  fearlesse  did  bide, 
Till  I  in  hand  her  yet  halfe  trembling  tooke, 
And  with  her  own  goode-will  her  fyrmely  tied. 
Strange  thing,  me  seemd,  to  see  a  beast  so  wyld, 
So  goodly  wonne,  with  her  own  will  beguyld." 

These  sonnets  consist  of  three  quatrains  and  a  couplet. 
The  quatrains  are  linked  together  by  a  peculiar  rhyme  scheme, 
ab  a&,  be  &c,  cd  cd,  ee. 

Shakespeare  used  the  sonnet  as  a  great  sculptor  might  use  the 
precious  stone  upon  which  to  cut  the  cameo.  In  it  he  half 
revealed  and  half  concealed  his  attachment  for  the  darkhaired, 
dark  eyed  Master,  — mistress  of  his  passion. 

"  When  in  disgrace  with  fortune  and  men's  eyes, 
I  all  alone  beweep  my  outcast  state, 
And  trouble  deaf  heaven  with  my  bootless  cries, 
And  look  upon  myself  and  curse  my  fate, 
Wishing  me  like  to  one  more  rich  in  hope, 
Featured  like  him,  like  him  with  friends  possessed, 


NOTES  145 

Desiring  this  man's  art,  and  that  man's  scope, 
With  what  I  most  enjoy  contented  least ; 
Yet  in  these  thoughts  myself  almost  despising, 
Haply  I  think  on  thee,  and  then  my  state, 
Like  to  the  lark  at  break  of  day  arising 
From  sullen  earth,  sings  hymns  at  heaven's  gate  : 
For  thy  sweet  love  remembered  such  wealth  brings 
That  then  I  scorn  to  change  my  state  with  kings." 

"  Thine  eyes  I  love,  and  they  as  pitying  me, 
Knowing  thy  heart  torments  me  with  disdain, 
Have  put  on  black  and  loving  mourners  be, 
Looking  with  pretty  ruth  upon  my  pain. 
And  truly  not  the  morning  sun  of  heaven 
Better  becomes  the  gay  cheeks  of  the  east, 
Nor  that  full  star  that  ushers  in  the  even 
Doth  half  that  glory  to  the  sober  west, 
As  those  two  mourning  eyes  become  thy  face  : 
O,  let  it  then  as  well  beseem  thy  heart 
To  mourn  for  me,  since  mourning  doth  thee  grace, 
And  suit  thy  pity,  like  in  every  part. 
Then  will  I  swear  beauty  herself  is  black, 
And  all  they  foul  that  thy  complexion  lack." 

In  these  sonnets  we  have  three  quatrains,  each  with  its  own 
system  of  rhyme,  and  a  couplet.  This  is  a  striking  departure 
from  the  sonnet  proper,  and  yet  it  produces  the  greatest  artistic 
effect.  The  rhyme  scheme  is  ab  ab,  c.d  cd,  ef  ef,  gg.  With 
Shakespeare  the  use  of  the  fourfold  division  of  the  sonnet 
ceases. 

Milton's  sonnets,  although  few  in  number,  are  of  the  finest 
quality.     In  structure  they  follow  the  Petrarchian  model,  which 
divides  the  sonnet  into  two  unequal  parts,  the  major  and  the 
minor.     This  is  the  second  form  of  the  English  sonnet,  — 
1,  4,  5,  8,  2,  3,  6,  7,  ||  9,  11,  13,  10,  12,  14. 

abba,  abba  \\  cd.cd.cd,  or 
Rhyme  scheme  :       abba,  abba  \\  cde,  cde. 
abba,  abba  \\  cde,  dee. 


146  NOTES 

We  are  not  surprised  that  Milton  should  choose  the  sonnet  as 
a  means  of  revealing  his  mind  and  art.  He  was  a  learned  and 
elegant  classical  scholar ;  he  was  acquainted  with  Rabbinical 
literature  ;  he  knew  every  language  of  modern  Europe;  and 
whenever  reason  seemed  to  justify  it  he  appropriated  such  forms 
as  would  serve  his  purpose.  Pattison  says  :  "He  had  put  his 
poetical  genius  to  school  to  the  Italians,  Dante,  Petrarch  and 
the  rest.  The  tradition  of  the  sonnet,  coining  from  what  had 
not  ceased  to  be  regarded  as  the  home  of  learning,  appealed  to 
his  classical  feelings." 

Macaulay  says:  "Traces,  indeed,  of  the  peculiar  character 
of  Milton  may  be  found  in  all  his  works  ;  but  it  is  most  strongly 
displayed  in  the  sonnets.  Those  remarkable  forms  have  been 
undervalued  by  critics  who  have  not  understood  their  nature. 
They  are  simple  but  majestic  records  of  the  feelings  of  the  poet, 
as  little  tricked  out  for  the  public  eye  as  his  diary  would  have 
been.  The  unity  of  sentiment  and  severity  of  style  which  char- 
acterize these  little  pieces  remind  us  of  the  Greek  Anthology, 
or  perhaps  still  more  of  the  collects  of  the  English  Liturgy." 

Hitherto  the  sonnet  had  been  confined  to  a  single  theme  — 
love,  but  in  Milton's  hands  it  was  made  to  reveal  the  personal, 
the  national,  and  the  universal,  as  these  ideas  shaped  themselves 
in  his  mind. 

The  title  of  this  sonnet  reveals  the  date  of  composition,  Dec.  9, 
1631,  while  the  contents  reveal  the  experience  through  which 
the  university  student  was  passing  as  he  approached  the  end  of 
his  course  and  must  choose  his  profession.  That  there  were 
those  of  his  friends  who  believed  his  duty  was  to  enter  the 
Church  or  some  of  the  active  professions ;  who  considered  a 
studious  life  somewhat  aimless,  is  revealed  very  clearly  in  a  letter 
written  by  him  upon  the  subject.  .In  the  Cambridge  Mss.  there 
is  a  letter  of  which  this  sonnet  was  a  part.  He  says:  "That 
you  may  see  that  I  am  something  suspicious  of  myself,  and  do 
take  notice  of  a  certain  belatedness  in  me,  I  am  the  bolder  to 
send  you  some  of  my  nightward  thoughts  some  little  while  ago, 
because  they  came  in  not  altogether  unfitly,  made  up  in  a  Pe~ 
trarchian  stanza  which  I  told  you  of."  Alluding  to  choice  of 


NOTES  147 

a  profession,  he  says  that  a  "  Sacred  reverence  and  religious  ad- 
visement, not  taking  thought  of  being  late  so  it  gave  advantage 
to  be  more  fit,"  had  held  him  back.  "  Coming  to  some  maturity 
of  years,  and  perceiving  what  tyranny  had  invaded  in  the  Church, 
that  he  who  would  take  orders  must  subscribe  slave,  and  take 
an  oath  withal,  which  unless  he  took  with  a  conscience  that 
would  retch,  he  must  either  straight  perjure  or  split  his  faith,  I 
thought  it  better  to  prefer  a  blameless  silence  before  the  sacred 
office  of  speaking,  bought  and  begun  with  servitude  and  for- 
swearing. ' ' 

' '  Nurse 

My  heart  in  genuine  freedom  —  all  pure  thoughts 
Be  with  me  ;  so  shall  thy  unfailing  love 
Guide  and  support  and  cheer  me  to  the  end." 

WORDSWORTH,  Excursion,  Introduction. 

Something  has  already  been  said  regarding  the  moral  quality 
of  the  creator  of  high  art,  and  in  these  days  when  we  hear  so 
much  of  the  moral  indifference  of  art,  it  is  refreshing  and  reas- 
suring to  turn  to  the  revelations  which  such  artists  as  Milton, 
Wordsworth,  Ruskin  and  Tennyson  are  giving  us.  Masson  says 
that  he  who  does  not  know  and  lay  stress  upon  the  moral  ear- 
nestness of  Milton  the  youth,  "the  outward  manifestation  of 
which  was  a  life  of  pure  and  devout  observance,  knows  not  and 
loves  not  Milton.  Fancy,  ye  to  whom  the  moral  frailty  of  genius 
is  a  consolation,  or  to  whom  the  association  of  virtue  with  youth 
and  Cambridge  is  a  jest — fancy  Milton  at  the  age  of  twenty-three 
returning  to  his  father's  house  from  the  University,  full  of  its 
accomplishments  and  its  honors,  an  auburn-haired  youth,  beauti- 
ful as  the  Apollo  of  a  northern  clime,  and  that  beautiful  body 
the  temple  of  a  soul  pure  and  unsoiled.  Truly,  a  son  for  a 
mother  to  take  to  her  arms  with  joy  and  pride." 

Wordsworth  alludes  to  the  young  Milton  in  his  Cambridge 
days  thus : 

"His  rosy  cheeks 

Angelical,  keen  eye,  courageous  look, 
And  conscious  step  of  purity  and  pride." 


148  NOTES 

It  is  of  no  little  significance,  it  seems  to  me,  that  the  poet  of 
serene  and  blessed  moods,  who  a  century  and  a  half  later  was  a 
student  of  Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  should  have  had  a 
similar  experience  at  the  same  time  in  his  life.  At  the  age 
of  twenty-three  Wordsworth  was  urged  to  take  orders,  or  to 
enter  the  law,  by  those  who  were  anxious  about  his  future 
worldly  maintenance.  For  neither  of  these  professions  did  he 
have  any  natural  taste.  While  he  was  correcting  and  revising 
some  of  his  early  poems  in  order  to  demonstrate  that  he  could 
do  something,  an  event  happened  by  which  he  was  enabled  to 
continue  a  life  of  plain  living  and  high  thinking  with  his 
noble  sister — 

"  She,  in  the  midst  of  all,  preserved  me  still 
A  Poet,  made  me  seek  beneath  that  name, 
And  that  alone,  my  office  upon  earth." 

The  event  was  the  death  of  his  young  friend  and  admirer,  Ralsley 
Calvert,  who  left  him  £900. 

Calvert !  it  must  not  be  unheard  by  them 

Who  may  respect  my  name,  that  I  to  thee 

Owed  many  years  of  early  liberty. 

This  care  was  thine  when  sickness  did  condemn 

Thy  youth  to  hopeless  wasting,  root  arid  stem  — 

That  I,  if  frugal  and  severe,  might  stray 

Where'er  I  liked  ;  and  finally  array 

My  temples  with  the  Muse's  diadem. 

Hence,  if  in  freedom  I  have  loved  the  truth  ; 

If  there  be  aught  of  pure,  or  good,  or  great, 

In  my  past  verse  ;  or  shall  be,  in  the  lays 

Of  higher  mood  which  now  I  meditate, 

It  gladdens  me,  0  worthy,  short-lived  Youth  ! 

To  think  how  much  of  this  will  be  thy  praise. 

After  Milton  we  see  no  more  of  the  sonnet  in  its  power  until 
we  come  to  Cowper  ;  following  him  is  that  illustrious  company 
of  singers  contemporary  with  the  French  Revolution,  —  Words- 
worth, Coleridge,  Shelley,  Byron,  and  Keats,  each  of  whom 


NOTES  149 

made  substantial  contributions  to  sonnet  literature.  Among 
these  Wordsworth's  work  is  by  far  the  most  significant,  not 
only  in  the  nature  and  variety  of  the  subjects  treated,  but  also 
in  the  manner  of  composition.  He  restored  the  sonnet  to  the 
place  it  held  in  Milton's  time. 

At  a  time  when  the  spirit  of  revolution  had  penetrated  all 
ranks  of  society  and  all  forms  of  art,  we  find  the  chief  of  the 
revolutionary  brotherhood  asserting  the  principles  of  a  true 
conservatism,  — respect  for  that  which  was  beautiful  and  useful 
in  life  and  art.  Wordsworth,  who  "  saw  with  unerring  instinct 
into  the  great  moral  forces  which  determine  the  currents  of 
history,"  saw  with  the  same  instinct  into  the  great  moral  forces 
which  make  for  noble  art.  At  a  time  when  the  new  thought  of 
man  and  nature  was  asserting  itself  and  looking  askance  at 
everything  old  as  unsuited  to  its  nature,  he  taught  a  noble  rev- 
erence for  the  old  which  had  been  consecrated  by  use  at  the 
hands  of  the  masters.  The  most  striking  illustration  of  this 
element  in  Wordsworth's  nature  was  his  defence  of  a  literary 
form  which,  although  associated  with  the  glory  of  Spenser, 
Shakespeare  and  Milton,  was  likely  to  suffer  undeserved  slight 
at  the  hands  of  the  reformers.  He  accordingly  wrote  those 
two  masterpieces  of  literary  art  in  defence  of  the  Sonnet: 

Nuns  fret  not  at  their  convent's  narrow  room  ; 
And  hermits  are  contented  with  their  cells  ; 
And  students  with  their  pensive  citadels  ; 
Maids  at  the  wheel,  the  weaver  at  his  loom, 
Sit  blithe  and  happy  ;  bees  that  soar  for  bloom 
High  as  the  highest  Peak  of  Furness-fells, 
Will  murmur  by  the  hour  in  foxglove  bells  : 
In  truth  the  prison,  unto  which  we  doom 
Ourselves,  no  prison  is  :  and  hence  for  me, 
In  sundry  moods,  'twas  pastime  to  be  bound 
Within  the  Sonnet's  scanty  plot  of  ground  ; 
Pleased  if  some  Souls  (for  such  there  needs  must  be) 
Who  have  felt  the  weight  of  too  much  liberty, 
Should  find  brief  solace  there,  as  I  have  found. 


150  NOTES 

"Scorn  not  the  Sonnet ;  Critic,  you  have  frowned, 
Mindless  of  its  just  honors  ;  with  this  key 
Shakspeare  unlocked  his  heart ;  the  melody 
Of  this  small  lute  gave  ease  to  Petrarch's  wound  ; 
A  thousand  times  this  pipe  did  Tasso  sound  ; 
With  it  Camoens  soothed  an  exile's  grief  ; 
The  Sonnet  glittered  a  gay  myrtle  leaf 
Amid  the  cypress  with  which  Dante  crowned 
His  visionary  brow  ;  .a  glow-worm  lamp, 
It  cheered  mild  Spenser,  called  from  Faery -land, 
To  struggle  through  dark  ways  ;  and,  when  a  damp 
Fell  round  the  path  of  Milton,  in  his  hand 
The  Thing  became  a  trumpet ;  whence  he  blew 
Soul-animating  strains  —  alas,  too  few  !  " 

Each  of  these,  sonnets  runs  the  major  part  over  into  the  first 
verse  of  the  minor. 

The  rhyme  scheme  of  the  first  is  abba,  abba,  cdd,  ccd;  while 
that  of  the  second  is  abba,  abba,  cd,  cd,  ee. 

The  birthday  of  the  Wordsworthian  sonnet  was  May  21, 1802. 
While  his  sister  read  to  him  some  of  Milton's  sonnets  his  genius 
kindled  and  he  at  once  composed  three  sonnets,  the  beginning 
of  a  series  unsurpassed  for  practical  wisdom,  dignity  and  beauty 
of  conception,  grave  and  lofty  harmony. 

1633-1645 
To  THE  NIGHTINGALE 

Milton  took  his  degree  of  M.A.  in  1632  but  he  did  not  return 
to  the  city  of  his  birth.  The  sights  and  sounds  with  which  he 
was  now  to  be  conversant  were  those  of  the  beautiful  English 
Midlands.  His  father  had  retired  to  the  rural  village  of  Horton, 
seventeen  miles  from  London,  in  that  part  of  Buckinghamshire 
known  as  Chiltern  Hundreds.  "Here,"  says  Milton,  "  I,  with 
every  advantage  of  leisure,  spent  a  complete  holiday  in  turning 
over  the  Greek  and  Latin  writers  ;  not  but  that  sometimes  I 
exchanged  the  country  for  the  town,  either  for  the  purpose  of 


NOTES 


151 


buying  books,  or  for  that  of  learning  something  new  in  Mathe- 
matics or  in  Music."  Here  this  sonnet  was  probably  written. 
It  is  pervaded  with  the  atmosphere  of  thoughtful  youth.  It  has 
the  passion  of  Keats  and  the  contemplation  of  Wordsworth. 

"  Now  came  still  Evening  on,  and  Twilight  gray 
Had  in  her  sober  livery  all  things  clad  ; 
Silence  accompanied  ;  for  beast  and  bird, 
They  to  their  grassy  couch,  these  to  their  nests 
Were  slunk,  all  but  the  wakeful  nightingale. 
She  all  night  long  her  amorous  descant  sung." 

Paradise  Lost,  vi.  598-603. 

"  From  branch  to  branch  the  smaller  birds  with  song 
Solaced  the  woods,  and  spread  their  painted  wings, 
Till  even  ;  nor  then  the  solemn  nightingale 
Ceased  warbling,  but  all  night  tuned  her  soft  lays." 

Paradise  Lost,  vii.  433-436. 

Cf.  II  Penseroso,  61-64.     Comus,  234,  235  ;  566,  567. 

The  following  from  Walton's  Compleat  Angler  is  worthy  of  a 
place  here  : 

"  But  the  nightingale,  another  of  my  airy  creatures,  breathes 
such  sweet  loud  music  out  of  her  little  instrumental  throat,  that 
it  might  make  mankind  to  think  miracles  are  not  ceased.  He 
that  at  midnight,  when  the  very  laborer  sleeps  securely,  should 
hear,  as  I  have  very  often,  the  clear  airs,  the  sweet  descants, 
the  natural  rising  and  falling,  the  doubling  and  redoubling  of 
her  voice,  might  well  be  lifted  above  earth,  and  say,  Lord,  what 
music  hast  Thou  provided  for  the  saints  in  heaven,  when  Thou 
affordest  bad  men  such  music  on  earth." 

The  Skylark  and  the  Nightingale  are  favorites  with  the  poets  ; 
the  one  symbolic  of  the  song  that  "  like  a  cloud  of  fire  "  spring- 
eth  from  the  earth  into  the  blue  deep  of  the  heavens  ;  the  other, 
a  type  of  the  lover's  passion  : 

"  A  song  in  mockery  and  despite 
Of  shades,  and  dews  and  silent  night." 


152  NOTES 

Cf.  Wordsworth  : 

"  0,  Nightingale  !  thou  surely  art 
A  creature  of  a  "  fiery  heart"  :  — 
These  notes  of  thine  —  they  pierce  and  pierce  ; 
Tumultuous  harmony  and  fierce  !  " 

Cf.  Coleridge  : 

"And  hark  !  the  Nightingale  begins  its  song, 
*  Most  musical,  most  melancholy  '  bird  ! 
A  melancholy  bird  ?    Oh  idle  thought ! 
In  nature  there  is  nothing  melancholy. 
But  some  night-wandering  man  whose  heart  was  pierced 
With  the  remembrance  of  a  grievous  wrong, 
Or  slow  distemper,  or  neglected  love, 
(And  so,  poor  wretch  !  fill'd  all  things  with  himself, 
And  made  all  gentle  sounds  tell  back  the  tale 
Of  his  own  sorrow)  he,  and  such  as  he, 
First  named  these  notes  a  melancholy  strain." 

The  Nightingale. 
Cf .  Shelley : 

"  One  nightingale  in  an  interfluous  wood 
Satiate  the  hungry  dark  with  melody." 

The  Woodman  and  the  Nightingale. 
Cf.  Keats : 

"Thou,  light-winged  Dryad  of  the  trees, 

In  some  melodious  plot 
Of  beechen  green,  and  shadows  numberless, 
Singest  of  Summer  in  full-throated  ease." 

Ode  to  a  Nightingale. 
Cf .  Tennyson : 

"  And  all  about  us  peal'd  the  nightingale, 
Rapt  in  her  song,  and  careless  of  the  snare." 

The  Princess,  i.  217-218. 

Mrs.   Anne  Thackeray   Ritchie   says :    "  As   Tennyson   was 
walking  at  night  in  a  friend's  garden,  he  heard  a  nightingale 


NOTES  153 

singing  with  such  a  frenzy  of  passion  that  it  was  unconscious  of 
everything  else,  and  not  frightened  though  he  came  and  stood 
quite  close  beside  it ;  he  could  see  its  eye  flashing,  and  feel  the 
air  bubble  in  his  ear  through  the  vibration." 

3.  Thou  with  fresh  hope,  etc.    To  hear  the  nightingale  before 
the  cuckoo  was  considered  to  "portend  success  in  love."     Cf. 
Chaucer,  The  Cuckoo  and  the  Nightingale. 

4.  jolly.    Joyful.     Cf.  Faerie  Queene,  I.  i.  1 : 

"  Full  jolly  knight  he  seemed." 
9.  bird  of  hate.    Cuckoo. 

1633-1645 

L' ALLEGRO 

The  situation  of  Horton  is  beautiful  for  prospect.  The  eye 
ranges  over  dewy  meadows,  rich  tillage  land  and  green  pasture, 
with  abundant  beech,  elm,  poplar  and  cedar ;  numerous  stream- 
lets hurry  to  lose  themselves  in  the  Colne,  while  the  Thames, 
Eton  and  Windsor  are  not  far  away.  The  beautiful  old  church 
of  the  12th  century  stands  in  the  centre  of  the  little  village,  and 
near  it  is  the  site  of  the  poet's  home. 

In  this  poetic  springtime  we  fancy  our  Scholar  Gipsy  —  such 
heart  was  in  him  —  to  be  abroad  in  the  primal  burst  of  day's 
bloom  ;  as  the  lark  sings  at  heaven's  gate,  he  wanders  wherever 
nature  leads,  drinking  in  with  pure  organic  pleasure  the  beaute- 
ous forms  and  colors  in  earth  and  sky,  while  his  ear  catches  the 
sounds  of  bellowing  kine  and  bleating  sheep,  as  the  herd  drives 
them  afield,  and  the  whistle  of  the  plowboy  and  the  song  of  the 
milkmaid  is  in  the  air.  When  the  sun  is  shining  high  he  seeks 
some  retired  spot  where  the  laborer  leaves 

"  His  coat,  his  basket  and  his  earthen  cruise." 

And  as  the  troop  of  hunters  jovial,  talking,  saunter  by,  he 
escapes  to  yonder  lawn  where  young  and  old  keep  holiday  with 
dance  and  song  and  hoodman  blind.  Thus  through 

"All  the  live  murmur  of  a  summer's  day  " 


154  NOTES 

he  is  gathering 

"  Spontaneous  wisdom  breathed  by  health, 
Truth  breathed  by  cheerfulness." 

Such  a  day  we  have  revealed  to  us  in  I?  Allegro,  a  day  of  joyous 
mirth. 

The  slow  and  stately  introduction,  the  rushing,  joyous  music 
of  the  body  of  the  poem,  the  vividness  of  picture,  the  playful 
humor  and  the  master  melody,  reveal  the  best  of  Shakespeare  and 
Spenser  and  yet  they  are  not  of  either  master,  but  truly  Miltonic. 

The  modern  visitor  at  Horton  feels  the  atmosphere  of  that- 
olden  time. 

"Here  cam'st  thou  in  thy  jocund  youthful  time, 
Here  was  thine  height  of  strength,  thy  golden  prime  ! 
And  still  the  haunt  beloved  a  virtue  yields." 

1-3.  Of  Cerberus  and  blackest  Midnight  born,  etc.  This  fig- 
ure is  partly  classical,  and  partly  the  creation  of  later  poets.  In 
classical  mythology  Nyx,  or  Night,  is  made  the  mother  of  Thana- 
tos,  or  Death,  Hypnos,  or  Sleep,  and  other  children.  Spenser,  in 
Tears  of  the  Muses,  included  Ignorance  among  the  children. 

"  Ignorance, 

Born  in  the  bosom  of  the  black  Abysse, 
And  fed  with  Furies  milk  for  sustenance 
Of  his  weake  infancie,  begot  amisse 
By  yawning  Sloth  on  his  own  mother  Night." 

In  the  old  mythology  Darkness  son  of  Chaos  is  husband  of 
Night.  In  Milton's  lurid  picture  of  Hell-Gate  and  the  region 
beyond,  Paradise  Lost,  book  ii.,  we  have  : 

"Where  eldest  Night 
And  Chaos,  ancestors  of  Nature,  hold 
Eternal  anarchy,"  etc.  —  (894-896.) 

' '  behold  the  throne 

Of  Chaos,  and  his  dark  pavilion  spread 
Wide  in  the  wasteful  Deep.     With  him  enthroned 
Sat  sable-vested  Night."  —  (959-962.) 


NOTES  155 

3.    Stygian.     Cf .  Paradise  Lost,  ii.  574-577  : 

"Along  the  banks 

Of  four  infernal  rivers,  that  disgorge 
Into  the  burning  lake  their  baleful  streams  — 
Abhorred  Styx,  the  flood  of  deadly  hate." 

6.  jealous  wings.      "The  watch  which  fowls  keep  when 
they  are  sitting."  —  WARBURTON. 

7.  the  night-raven  sings.     The  bird  of  ill-omen.    Cf.  Mac- 
beth, I  5. 

"  The  raven  himself  is  hoarse 
That  croaks  the  fatal  entrance  of  Duncan 
Under  my  battlements."    . 

8.  9.   As  ragged  as  thy  locks.     The  term  ragged  applied  to 
rocks  is  common  in  Shakespeare. 

"  ragged  prison  walls."  —  Richard  II.  v.  5. 
"  on  the  ragged  stones  break  forth."  —  Titus  Andronicus,  v.  3. 

10.  dark  Cimmerian  desert.  In  the  Odyssey,  xi.,  14,  the 
Cimmerians  are  dwellers  "beyond  the  ocean"  in  perpetual 
darkness. 

"  There  lies  the  land,  and  there  the  people  dwell 
Of  the  Cimmerians,  in  eternal  cloud 
And  darkness." 

12.   yclept.     The  old  past  participle  of  verb  clepen,  to  call. 
"  They  clepe  us  drunkards."  —  Hamlet,  i.  4. 

Euphrosyne.     Mirth,  one  of  the  Graces. 
14-23.   Whom    lovely    Venus,    etc.      Milton    creates    these 
figures.    In  the  old  mythology  Euphrosyne  is  daughter  of  Zeus. 
22.   fresh-blown  roses,  etc. 

"Morning  roses  newly  washed  with  dew." 

Taming  of  the  Shrew,  ii.  1. 
24.   debonair.    De  bonne  air. 
25-32.    Haste  thee,  Nymph,  etc.     An  allusion  to  the  merry- 


156  NOTES 

making  of   Elizabethan  England.      Cf.  Ben  Jonson's  masque, 
Pan's  Anniversary. 

Nym.   ' '  Thus,  thus  begin  the  yearly  rites 

Are  due  to  Pan  on  these  bright  nights  ; 
His  morn  now  riseth  and  invites 
To  sports,  to  dances,  and  delights  : 
All  envious  and  profane,  away, 
This  is  the  shepherds'  holy  day.11 

27.    Quips  and  Cranks.     Smart  and  odd  sayings. 
33,  34.    Come,  and  trip  it,  etc. 

"  Before  you  can  say  '  Come '  and  '  Go,' 
And  breathe  twice,  and  say  'so,  so,' 
Each  one  tripping  on  his  toe 
Will  be  here  with  mop  and  mow.'1 —  Tempest,  i.  1. 

40.  unreproved.     Not  to  be  found  fault  with,  innocent. 

41.  To  hear  the  lark,  etc.     Compare  this  and  the  following 
lines  in  respect  of  direct  and  musical  description  with  Tenny 
son's  Ode  to  Memory. 

"The  seven  elms,  the  poplars  four, 
That  stand  beside  my  father's  door,11  etc. 

Cf.  Cymbeline,  ii.  2. 

"  Hark,  hark  !  the  lark  at  Heaven's  gate  sings, 

And  Phoebus  'gins  arise, 
His  steeds  to  water  at  those  springs 

On  chaliced  flowers  that  lies  ; 
And  winking  Mary-buds  begin 

To  ope  their  golden  eyes." 

44.   dappled  dawn. 

"and  look  the  gentle  day, 
Before  the  wheels  of  Phoebus  round  about 
Dapples  the  drowsy  east  with  spots  of  gray." 

Much  Ado  About  Nothing,  v.  8. 
59.   eastern  gate. 

"  Even  till  the  Eastern  gate,  all  fiery-red." 

Midsummer  Night"1  s  Dream,  iii.  2. 


NOTES  157 

62.   dight.     Set  in  order,  arrayed. 

07.  tells  his  tale.  Warton  suggests  that  this  means  "  makes 
his  reckoning,"  counts  his  sheep,  rather  than  the  commonly 
understood,  tells  his  story.  This  seems  plausible  from  the  fact 
that  the  morning  was  not  the  time  for  story-telling. 

69.  Straight.    At  once,  suddenly.    Common  in  Shakespeare. 

"  About  your  business  straight."  —  Richard  III.  i.  2. 
"  Straight  to  stop  the  rumour."  —  Henry  VIII.  ii.  1. 
"  We'll  have  a  speech  straight."  — Hamlet,  ii.  2. 

70.  landskip.     Old  form.     Cf.  Tennyson,    Merlin  and  the 

Gleam. 

"The  landskip  darken'd." 

76.   daisies  pied. 

"  When  daisies  pied  and  violets  blue 
And  lady-smocks  all  silver- white,"  etc. 

Loves  Labours  Lostj  v.  2. 

77-80.  Towers  and  battlements.  While  the  descriptions  are 
not  true  to  Horton  in  every  detail  it  is  not  unnatural  that  we 
should  understand  this  to  be  an  allusion  to  Windsor  Castle. 

83-88.  Corydon  and  Thyrsis  .  .  .  Phillis  .  .  .  Thestylis. 
Familiar  names  for  shepherds. 

91.    secure.    Untroubled. 

94.    rebecks.     Stringed  instrument  like  a  fiddle. 

96.   chequered  shade. 

"The  green  leaves  quiver  with  the  cooling  wind 
And  make  a  chequered  shadow  on  the  ground." 

Titus  Andronicus,  ii.  3. 
98.   sunshine  holiday. 

"  Many  years  of  sunshine  days."  -—  Richard  II.  iv.  1. 

100.   spicy,  nut-brown  ale.     Wassail  bowl  of  sweet,  warm, 
spiced  ale  with  roasted  crab-apples  in  it. 
102.   How  Faery  Mab  the  junkets  eat. 

"  She  is  the  fairy  midwife,  and  she  comes 
In  shape  no  bigger  than  an  agate-stone 


158  NOTES 

On  the  forefinger  of  an  alderman, 
Drawn  with  a  team  of  little  atomies,"  etc. 

Romeo  and  Juliet,  i.  4. 

"  This  is  Mab,  the  mistress  Fairy, 
That  doth  nightly  rob  the  dairy, 
She  that  pinches  country  wenches." 

BEN  JONSON,  The  Satyr. 
junkets.  Cream  cheese. 

103.  104.  She  .  .  .  And  he.    The  two  shepherds  who  are  tell- 
ing the  story. 

104.  Friar's  lantern.  Jack-o'-the-Lantern,  Will-o'-the-Wisp. 

105.  drudging  goblin.      Robin  Goodfellow,  a  favorite  with 
Elizabethan  story-tellers. 

The  fairy  speaking  to  Puck  says  : 

"  Either  I  mistake  your  shape  and  making  quite, 
Or  else  you  are  that  shrewd  and  knavish  sprite 
Call'd  Robin  Goodfellow  ;  are  you  not  he 
That  frights  the  maidens  of  the  villagery  :  "  etc. 

Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  ii.  1. 

110.  the  lubber  fiend.  The  fairy  in  Midsummer  Night's 
Dream,  ii.  1,  addresses  Puck  as  "  thou  lob  of  spirits." 

117.  Towered  cities  please  us  then.  The  youth  now  retires 
to  his  country  cottage  and  amuses  himself  with  stories  of  a  life 
quite  in  contrast  to  that  of  the  rustics  with  whom  he  has  been 
associating. 

120.  weeds  .  .  .  triumphs.  The  old  meaning  of  weeds, 
clothing.  Triumphs,  one  of  the  forms  of  entertainment  where 
are  tournaments,  etc. 

12°.    Rain  influence.    Cf.  Ode  on  the  Nativity,  71. 

125.  let  Hymen  oft  appear.    As   in   Masques  in  honor  of 
marriage.     Cf.  Ben.  Jonson's  Hymencei. 

126.  In  saffron  robe.     In  Ben  Jonson's  Hymencei  we  have  : 
"Entered  Hymen  the  God  of  Marriage  in  a  saffron-coloured 

robe." 

132-134.  If  Jonson's  learned  sock  be  on,  etc.  Sock  was  a 
low-heeled  shoe  worn  in  comedy. 


NOTES  159 

"  I  visit,  or  to  smile,  or  weep, 
The  winding  theatre's  majestic  sweep, 
The  grave  or  gay  colloquial  scene  recruits 
My  spirits,  spent  in  learning's  long  pursuits." 

Elegy  i. 

If  poets  may  be  divided  into  two  exhaustive  but  not  exclu- 
sive classes  —  the  gods  of  harmony  and  creation,  the  giants  of 
energy  and  invention  —  the  supremacy  of  Shakespeare  among 
the  gods  of  English  verse  is  not  more  unquestionable  than  the 
supremacy  of  Jonson  among  the  giants." — A.  C.  SWINBURNE. 

136.  Lydian  airs.  Soft  and  light  as  compared  with  the 
Dorian,  which  are  more  suited  to  revealing  contemplation. 

139.   bout.    Turn. 

145-150.  That  Orpheus'  self,  etc.  According  to  the  myth 
which  reveals  Orpheus  as  the  master  musician  who,  on  the 
death  of  his  wife  Eurydice,  went  to  the  lower  world  to  recover 
her.  His  music  charmed  even  Pluto,  who  released  Eurydice 
on  the  condition  that  Orpheus  would  not  look  upon  her  until 
they  had  reached  the  earth.  Orpheus  turned  to  see  if  she  were 
following  him  and  she  was  lost  to  him. 

151,  152.  These  lines  remind  one  of  the  last  lines  of  Mar- 
lowe's The  Passionate  Shepherd  to  his  Love : 

"  If  these  delights  thy  mind  may  move, 
Then  live  with  me  and  be  my  love." 

1633-1645 
IL  PENSEROSO 
When  the  merry-making  was  over,  and  the  sun, 

"  which  doth  glorify 
The  orange  and  pale  violet  evening  sky," 

sank  to  rest,  and  the  '  mellow  lin-lan-lone  of  evening  bells '  ceased, 

"  No  chair  remained  before  the  door ;  the  bench 
And  threshold  steps  were  empty;  fast  asleep 
The  laborer,  and  the  old  man  who  had  sate 
A  later  lingerer. ' ' 


160  NOTES 

The  new  day  now  begins,  the  clay  which  is  characterized  by  wise 
activity,  as  the  other  had  been  by  wise  passiveness  ;  for  nature 
and  books  are  the  joys  of  the  poet,  and  by  these  a  healthy 
activity  is  secured  between  What  Does,  What  Knows,  What  Is. 
The  mood  here  is  that  of  joy  in  though tfulness,  when  the  world 
is  shut  out  and  the  mind  shut  in  upon  itself.  Each  experience 
here  has  its  complement  in  those  of  the  previous  poem  ;  and  as 
a  result  the  movement  is  slow  and  measured  where  the  other 
was  rapid  and  careless.  One  hardly  knows  where  to  look  for  a 
happier  union  of  natural  magic  and  moral  profundity,  of  child- 
like mirth  and  the  joy  of  mature  manhood. 

The  treatment  of  nature  in  these  poems  is  not  that  of  Chaucer 
with  its  freshness  of  the  early  world,  nor  that  of  Wordsworth 
with  its  spiritual  revelation  ;  but  it  is  pure  description  of  things 
seen  by  the  poet  in  a  special  mood. 

M.  Scherer  says:  "For  rendering  things  Milton  has  the 
unique  word,  — the  word  which  is  a  discovery  :  he  has  not  only 
the  image  and  the  word,  he  has  the  period  also,  the  large  musical 
phrase  ...  an  unfailing  level  of  style,  power  indomitable." 

These  are  the  elements  which  make  the  poems  a  delight  to 
young  and  old  alike. 

Mr.  Henry  Van  Dyke  says  :  "  I  do  not  think  that  IS  Allegro, 
II  Penseroso,  and  Comus  have  any  lower  place  in  the  world,  or 
any  less  enduring  life,  than  Paradise  Lost.  We  have  thought 
so  much  of  Milton's  strength  and  sublimity  that  we  have  ceased 
to  recognize  what  is  also  true,  that  he,  of  all  English  poets,  is 
by  nature  the  supreme  lover  of  beauty." 

"  Never  were  ideas  of  such  dignity  embodied  in  verse  so  easy 
and  familiar,  and  with  such  apparent  absence  of  effort." 

R.  GARNETT. 

Mr.  F.  T.  Palgrave  says:  "  IS  Allegro  and  II  Penseroso,  the 
earliest  great  lyrics  of  the  landscape  in  our  language,  despite 
all  later  competition,  still  remain  supreme  for  range,  variety, 
lucidity  and  melodious  charm  within  their  style." 

1-30.  Hence,  vain  deluding  Joys,  etc.  These  lines  should  be 
compared  in  detail  with  the  first  twenty-four  of  IS  Allegro. 
We  must  remember  that  these  are  complementary  moods,  but 


NOTES  161 

not  contrary,  — not  inconsistent  with  the  nature  of  a  true  man. 
It  is  usually  assumed  that  Milton  is  the  Milton  of  II  Penseroso 
and  Paradise  Lost,  but  a  careful  study  of  the  shorter  poems 
will  reveal  how  wholesome  and  holy  was  the  nature  of  the 
young  poet.  Cf.  Masson,  Milton's  Youth. 
3.  bested.  Stand  by,  satisfy. 

"  I  never  saw  a  fellow  worse  bestead 
Or  more  afraid  to  fight." 

2  Henry  VI.  ii.  3. 
7-10.   And  fancies  fond,  etc. 

"  Confusedly  about  the  silent  bed 
Fantastick  swarms  of  dreams  were  hovered, 

Som  sacred,  som  profane,  som  false,  som  true. 

They  make  no  noise,  but  right  resemble  may 

Th' unnumbered  moats  which  in  the  sun  do  play." 

SYLVESTER'S  Du  Bartas  (The  Vacation). 

6.   fond.     In  old  sense  of  foolish. 

10.   pensioners.     Living  upon  the  bounty  of  others,  retinue. 
Possibly  alluding  to  the  famous  body-guard  of  Elizabeth. 

"  And  I  serve  the  Fairy  Queen, 
To  dew  her  orbs  upon  the  green. 
The  cowslips  tall  her  pensioners  be." 

Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  ii.  1. 

12.     Divinest  Melancholy.      We  must  keep  to  the  Miltonic 
idea  here  :  Though tfulness. 
14.    To  hit  the  sense. 

"  Delicate  odour  as  ever  hit  my  nostril."  —  Pericles,  iii.  2. 

"  From  the  barge 

A  strange  invisible  perfume  hits  the  sense 
Of  the  adjacent  wharves." 

Antony  and  Cleopatra,  ii.  2. 

18.   Prince  Memnon's  sister.      Memnon  was  the  beautiful 


162  NOTES 

prince  of  the  Ethiopians  who  came  to  help  Priam.      Milton 
makes  the  sister  as  beautiful.     Homer  alludes  to  Eurypylus  as, 

"The  noblest 

Of  men,  in  form,  whom  I  have  ever  seen, 
Save  Memnon."  —  Odyssey,  xi. 

19-21.  that  starred  Ethiop,  etc.  Cassiope  challenged  the 
Nereids  in  a  contest  for  beauty.  They  in  anger  induced 
Poseidon  to  send  a  ravenous  monster  into  her  country.  An- 
dromeda her  daughter  was  about  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  monster 
when  she  was  rescued  by  her  lover  Perseus.  Cassiope  was 
raised  to  heaven  and  turned  into  the  constellation  Cassiopoeia. 

23-30.  bright-haired  Vesta,  etc.  Milton  here  creates  the 
genealogy  of  Melancholy  as  he  has  done  for  Mirth  in  the  pre- 
vious poem.  The  emphasis  upon  the  word  solitary  would  seem 
to  reveal  the  fact  that  Milton  desired  to  reveal  that  Melancholy 
was  the  daughter  of  Solitude  and  the  Vestal-affection  or  Do- 
mestic happiness. 

33.    grain.     Color. 

35.   stole.     Scarf. 

cypress  lawn.  In  early  editions  Milton  printed  this  with  a 
capital,  indicating  that  the  lawn  was  from  Cyprus.  In  Winter's 
Tale  Autolycus  sings  of  his  wares  : 

"Lawn  as  white  as  driven  snow, 
Cyprus  black  as  e'er  was  crow." 

39.    commercing.     Communing. 

42.  Forget  thyself  to  marble.     Cf.  On  Shakespeare,  14  and 
note. 

43.  leaden.    The  star  Saturn  has  a  leaden  or  dispiriting  in- 
fluence on  shepherds,  or  sons  of  the  Muses.     Cf.  Epitapliium 
Damonis,  79,  80,  and  translation.     (M.) 

46.    Spare  Fast.     Cf.  Sonnet  To  Mr.  Lawrence. 

51-54.  But  first  and  chiefest,  etc.  Cf.  Ezekiel  x.  Milton 
names  one  of  the  four  cherubs  of  Ezekiel's  vision,  Contempla- 
tion. By  Contemplation  one  reached  the  heights  of  vision. 
(M.) 


NOTES  163 

55,56.  hist  along.  .  .  .  'Less  Philomel,  etc.  Telling  the  Silence 
to  continue  unless  the  Nightingale  shall  choose  to  break  it.  (M.) 

"Thou  veiled  in  opening  foliage,  lead'st  the  throng 
Of  feathered  minstrels,  Philomel !  in  song." 

Elegy  v. 

59,  60.  While  Cynthia,  etc.  While  the  moon,  entranced 
with  the  song,  is  seen  to  check  her  pace  over  a  particular  oak- 
tree.  (M.)  Milton  has  transferred  the  idea,  "  Dragon  yoke," 
drawn  by  dragons,  from  the  old  Mythology  of  Demeter.  The 
accustomed  oak,  seems  to  imply  some  particular  oak  in  which 
the  poet  had  seen  the  moon  couched. 

61-64.    Sweet  bird,  etc.     Masson  cites  : 

"  And  yet,  methinks  in  a  thick  thorn  I  hear 
A  nightingale  to  warble  sweetly  clear." 

SYLVESTER'S  Du  Bartas  (First  Week). 

Cf.  sonnet  To  the  Nightingale,  and  note. 
73-76.    Oft,  on  a  plat  of  rising  ground,  etc.     The  figure  in  the 
first  couplet  might  have  direct  application  to  Horton,  but  that 
in  the  second  could  not ;  but  we  need  not  make  literal  identifica- 
tion of  every  allusion  in  a  poem  so  rich  in  imagination.     Masson 
says:  "The  sound  of  the  eight  o'clock  bell  from  Christ  Church 
is  still  one  of  the  characteristics  of  Oxford,  and  is  heard  afar." 
77.  air.     Weather. 

83,  84.  the  bellman's  drowsy  charm,  etc.  Charm,  cry.  The 
bellman  was  policeman  and  fireman  in  one,  and  at  times  shouted 
the  state  of  the  weather,  as,  "  Half-past  nine  and  a  fine  cloudy 
evening";  or  he  blessed  the  sleepers,  as  in  Herrick's  The 
Bellman : 

"  From  noise  and  scare-fires  rest  ye  free, 
From  murder,  Benedicite  ! 
From  all  mischances  that  may  fright 
Your  pleasing  slumbers  in  the  night."     (M.) 

85,  86.  Or  let  my  lamp,  etc.  A  beautiful  figure  of  Contem- 
plation. Milton  believed  in  the  necessity  of  shade  in  which  to 
grow  ripe,  and  leisure  in  which  to  grow  wise.  He  writes  to 


164      •  NOTES 

Diodati :  "I  am  letting  my  wings  grow,  and  preparing  to  fly, 
but  my  Pegasus  has  not  yet  feathers  enough  to  soar  aloft  in  the 
fields  of  air." 

"  When  Contemplation,  like  the  night-calm  felt 
Through  earth  and  sky,  spreads  widely,  and  sends  deep 
Into  the  soul  its  tranquilizing  power." 

WORDSWORTH,  Prelude,  v. 

87.  outwatch  the  Bear.     Studying  until  the  stars  are  put  to 
flight. 

88.  thrice  great  Hermes.     Hermes  Trismegistus,  a  Greek  ap- 
pellation given  to  the  Egyptian  philosopher  Thot. 

88,  89.  unsphere  the  spirit  of  Plato.  Return  Plato  to  the 
earth  by  understanding  his  works. 

91,  92.  The  immortal  mind,  etc.  An  allusion  to  the  Phcedo, 
where  the  doctrine  of  immortality  is  discussed. 

93-96.  And  of  those  demons,  etc.  The  Mediaeval  doctrine  of 
the  four  elements,  Earth,  Air,  Fire  and  Water. 

97-100.  let  gorgeous  Tragedy,  etc.  With  Platonic  Philoso- 
phy and  Mediaeval  Alchemy  we  have  the  great  truths  of  the 
Classic  drama. 

101,  102.  of  later  age,  etc.  Shakespeare.  Cf.  IS  Allegro, 
131-134. 

104-108.  Might  raise  Musasus.  Recover  the  equally  great 
works  which  are  lost.  Cf.  L1  Allegro,  145-150. 

109-115.  Or  call  up  him,  etc.  Chaucer,  whose  Squire's  Tale 
is  unfinished. 

"  At  Sarra,  in  the  lond  of  Tartarie, 
Ther  dwelt  a  king  that  werreied  Russie, 
Thurgh  which  ther  died  many  a  doughty  man  : 
This  noble  king  was  cleped  Cambuscan." 

Cf.  Tennyson : 

"  Dan  Chaucer,  the  first  warbler,  whose  sweet  breath 

Preluded  those  melodious  bursts  that  fill 
The  spacious  times  of  great  Elizabeth 
With  sounds  that  echo  still." 


NOTES  r       165 

In  the  Palace  of  Art  Tennyson  has  portraits  hung  above  the 
throne  of  Contemplation  : 

"  For  there  was  Milton  like  a  seraph  strong, 

Beside  him  Shakespeare  bland  and  mild  ; 
And  there  the  world-worn  Dante  grasped  his  song 
And  somewhat  grimly  smiled." 

116-120.  great  bards,  etc.     Spenser  and  the  Faerie  Queene. 

"  Descend,  prophetic  Spirit !  that  inspir'st 
The  human  Soul  of  universal  Earth 
Dreaming  on  things  to  come  ;  and  dost  possess 
A  metropolitan  temple  in  the  hearts  of  mighty  poets." 
WORDSWORTH,  Excursion,  Introduction. 

122.    civil-suited.     Plainly  attired,  not  in  court  costume. 
124.    Attic    boy.       Cephalus,    who  was    in    love   with  Eos, 
Morning. 

134.    Sylvan.     Sylvanus,  god  of  the  woodlands. 
lo-">.   monumental.     Old. 
142.   honeyed  thigh. 

"  Each  bee  with  honey  laden  to  the  thigh."  —  DRAYTON,  Owl. 

146.  dewy-feathered.  "Feathers  steeped  in  Lethean  dew.*' 
(K.) 

147-150.  And  let  some  strange,  etc.  Let  some  strange 
mysterious  dream  move  to  and  fro  at  Sleep's  wings,  in  airy 
stream.  (M.) 

156-166.  To  walk,  etc.  This  should  be  read  with  At  a 
Solemn  Music.  Milton  is  in  admiration  of  the  symbols  of 
spiritual  contemplation.  Here  is  nothing  of  the  Puritan. 

158.  massy-proof.     The  idea  here  is  not  quite  clear.     It  may 
mean,  sufficient  to  sustain  the  mass  of  roof,  etc.     Cf.  Words- 
worth, Sonnets,  Inside  King's  College  Chapel. 

159.  storied.     Illustrating  Scripture  story  in  stained  glass. 
167-176.  And  may  at  last  my  weary  age,  etc. 

"  0  blest  seclusion  !  when  the  mind  admits 
The  law  of  duty  ;  and  can  therefore  move 


166  NOTES 

Through  each  vicissitude  of  loss  or  gain 
Link'd  in  entire  complacence  with  her  choice  ; 
When  youth's  presumptuousness  is  mellow'd  down, 
And  manhood's  vain  anxiety  dismissed  ; 
When  wisdom  shows  her  seasonable  fruit, 
Upon  the  boughs  of  sheltering  leisure  hung." 

WORDSWORTH,  Excursion,  iv. 

"  If  age  had  tamed  the  passions'  strife, 
And  fate  had  cut  my  ties  of  life, 
Here,  have  I  thought,  'twere  sweet  to  dwell, 
And  rear  again  the  chaplain's  cell, 
Like  that  same  peaceful  hermitage, 
Where  Milton  long'd  to  spend  his  age." 

SCOTT,  Marmion,  Introduction  to  Canto  ii. 

Mr.  F.  T.  Palgrave,  alluding  to  Keats'  poem  Fancy,  says  : 
;'I  know  no  other  poem  which  so  closely  rivals  the  richness 
and  melody, — and  that  in  this  very  difficult  and  rarely  at- 
tempted metre,  —  of  Milton's  Allegro  and  Penseroso.'1'1 

1634-1645 

ARCADES 

(In  Milton's  own  hand  in  the  Cambridge  MSS.) 

The  history  of  the  Masque,  its  form  and  function  in  English 
literature,  is  varied  and  interesting.  The  men  we  most  natu- 
rally associate  with  the  Masque  are,  that  incomparable  Master  of 
Revels  Ben  Jonson  —  its  inventor,  Inigo  Jones  its  scene  painter, 
and  Henry  Lawes  the  composer  of  its  music.  Early  in  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth,  when  the  Miracle  Plays  and  Mysteries  were  evolv- 
ing into  the  Pageant  and  the  drama  of  Shakespeare,  there  was 
also  evolved  a  ceremonial  in  which  actors  represented  allegorical 
characters  and  accompanied  Lords  and  Ladies  011  great  occa- 
sions for  the  purpose  of  lending  interest  by  action,  dialogue, 
music  and  dance.  In  the  reigns  of  James  I  and  Charles  I  these 
entertainments  were  frequent  and  magnificently  apportioned. 
Artists,  musicians,  poets  and  managers  were  commissioned  to 


NOTES  167 

prepare  the  pageant  for  a  marriage,  a  birthday,  a  royal  visitor, 
or  the  reception  of  distinguished  foreigners,  and  the  pastoral 
or  idyl  of  Spenser  appeared  as  a  pastoral  drama  or  masque. 
Jonson  created  no  less  than  thirty  masques  between  1600  and 
1635. 

The  Masque  has  its  own  laws  as  clearly  defined  as  those 
of  the  drama  itself.  As  in  the  Greek  drama  the  central  idea  — 
the  occasion  —  was  familiar  to  the  average  spectator,  so  here 
the  occasion  with  all  its  attendant  incidents  must  be  a  familiar 
one.  The  poetry,  music  and  decorations  must  be  used  to  in- 
tensify this  occasion.  The  result  is,  as  Taine  says:  "A  true 
eye  feast,  like  a  procession  of  Titian." 

In  1632  Puritanism  gave  a  new  impetus  to  such  pageants  by 
the  publication  of  the  famous  Histrio-Mastix :  The  Player' s- 
Sconrge,  in  which  the  stage  aiid  all  its  associations  were  de- 
nounced as  "  the  very  pomp  of  the  Divell."  The  result  was  a 
singular  demonstration  on  the  part  of  the  lovers  of  good  cheer, 
and  the  most  gorgeous  of  all  the  royal  masques  was  prepared  by 
the  Society  of  the  Four  Inns  of  Court,  and  presented  in  the 
Banqueting  House  at  Whitehall,  February,  1634.  The  masque 
was  entitled  The  Triumph  of  Peace.  In  this  masque,  costing 
£21,000,  Mr.  Henry  Lawes  acted  as  master  of  music.  We  have 
already  seen  that  while  Milton  was  at  Horton  he  was  studying 
music  in  London  ;  now  this  Mr.  Lawes  was  his  teacher,  and  it  is 
probable  that  Milton  took  no  little  interest  in  this  distinguished 
performance.  Soon  after  this,  another  masque,  Ccelum  Britan- 
nicutn,  was  given  at  the  same  place.  Lawes  arranged  the  music, 
and  Inigo  Jones  had  charge  of  the  decorations.  In  it  two  sons 
of  the  Earl  of  Bridgewater  acted,  and  it  is  through  them  that 
Lawes  and  Milton  became  associated  in  Arcades. 

In  Spenser's  Colin  Clout's  Come  Home  Again,  we  have  the 
following : 

"  Ne  less  praise  worth  ie  are  the  sisters  three, 
The  honor  of  the  noble  familie 
Of  which  I  meanest  boast  myself  to  be 
And  most  that  unto  them  I  am  so  nie 
Phyllis,  Charillis  and  Sweet  Amaryllis." 


168  NOTES 

These  sisters  are  the  three  married  daughters  of  Sir  John 
Spencer.  In  Elizabeth's  time  the  poet,  then  young,  had  dedi- 
cated to  each,  one  of  his  early  poems,  Muiopotmos,  Mother 
HubbarcVs  Tale,  and  The  Teares  of  the  Muses.  The  "sweet 
Amaryllis"  was  Alice,  who  married  Ferdinando,  Lord  Strange. 
In  the  dedication  of  his  Teares  of  the  Muses  Spenser  says  :  "  The 
things  that  make  ye  so  much  honoured  are  your  excellent  beauty, 
your  virtuous  behavior  and  your  noble  match  with  the  very 
pattern  of  right  nobility." 

Lord  Strange  was  a  patron  of  literature  and  somewhat  of  a 
poet.  He  succeeded  to  the  earldom  of  Derby,  and  on  his  death 
in  1594  his  wife  became  known  as  Countess-Dowager  of  Derby. 
Spenser  thus  alludes  to  his  death  : 

"  Amyntas  quite  has  gone,  and  lies  full  low, 
Having  his  Amaryllis  left  to  mone. 
Helpe,  O  ye  shepheards,  helpe  ye  all  in  this, 
Helpe  Amaryllis  this  her  losse  to  mourne  ; 
Her  losse  is  yours,  your  losse  Amyntas  is, 
Amyntas,  floure  of  shepheards  pride  forlorne  : 
He  whilest  he  lived  was  the  noblest  swaine, 
That  ever  piped  on  an  oaten  quill." 

Colin  Clout's  Come  Home  Again. 

In  1600  she  married  Sir  Thomas  Egerton,  Lord  Keeper  of  the 
Great  Seal  to  Elizabeth.  They  purchased  the  beautiful  estate 
of  Harefield  in  Middlesex  on  the  river  Colne.  In  1602  the 
Queen  paid  them  a  visit  of  four  days,  when  masques  of  various 
kinds  were  given  in  her  honor,  and  Burbidge's  players  acted 
for  the  first  time  Shakespeare's  Othello.  Masson  says,  "  Shake- 
speare himself  probably  present  and  taking  part."  The  avenue 
of  elms  where  the  pageant  met  the  Queen  was  afterwards  known 
as  the  "  Queen's  Walk." 

In  the  reign  of  James  I  Sir  Thomas  was  made  Lord  Chan- 
cellor, and  Lord  and  Lady  Egerton  were  even  more  closely 
identified  with  literature.  Warton  says:  "The  peerage  book 
of  the  Countess  is  the  poetry  of  her  times."  In  1617  his  Lord- 
ship died.  The  Countess  remained  at  Harefield  and  gave  her- 


NOTES  169 

self  to  deeds  of  charity  and  hospitality.  The  Countess'  first 
husband  had  been  married  twice  prior  to  his  marriage  to  her, 
and  her  second  husband  had  been  married  once  before  ;  their 
children  had  intermarried,  and  at  the  date  of  this  masque  she 
(at  seventy)  had  numerous  children  and  grandchildren.  It  was 
they  who  planned  this  entertainment  in  memory  of  the  many 
which  the  venerable  lady  had  witnessed.  The  two  sons  of  the 
Earl  of  Bridgewater  already  mentioned  as  taking  part  in  Ccelum 
Britannicum,  now  the  Countess'  step-sons,  were  pupils  of  Lawes, 
and  it  was  therefore  natural  that  they  should  want  him  to  take 
charge  of  the  music ;  it  was  also  natural  that  he  should  ask 
Milton  to  furnish  the  text,  —  speeches  and  songs  being  a  part  of 
the  extensive  pageant,  Arcades. 

4.  mistook.  Milton  is  fond  of  those  old  forms.  Cf .  Nativity, 
20  ;  Comus,  558. 

8-13.  Fame  that  .  .  .  erst,  etc.  An  allusion  to  the  tributes 
to  the  Countess  by  Spenser  and  those  who  had  written  masques 
in  her  honor. 

14-19.  Mark  what  radiant  state,  etc.  An  allusion  to  the 
actual  surroundings  of  the  Countess  in  the  masque.  (M.) 

20.  Latona.     The  mother  of  Apollo  and  Diana. 

21.  the  towered  Cybele.      Cybele,  the  wife  of  Saturn  and 
"the  mother  of  the  gods,"  wore  a  diadem  of  three  towers. 
Cf.  ^fineid,  vi.  784-786  : 

"The  Berycinthian  mother  rides  tower-crowned  through  the 
towns  of  Phrygia,  proud  of  the  gods  that  have  sprung  from  her." 
Cf.  Faerie  Queene,  IV.  xi.  28  : 

"  Old  Cybele,  array d  with  pompous  pride, 
Wearing  a  Diademe  embattild  wide 
With  hundred  turrets,"  etc. 

23.  Juno  dares  not  give  her  odds.  Could  not  afford  to  give 
her  any  advantage  in  a  contest  for  beauty.  Masson  gives  an 
interesting  interpretation  of  this  passage.  He  says  it  should 
be  read  with  the  picture  of  the  venerable  lady  before  us  as 
she  appeared  on  that  evening  of  the  masque,  throned,  and  sur- 
rounded by  two  generations  of  her  descendants.  "  Does  it  not 


170  NOTES 

then  mean,  even  now,  the  handsomest  of  her  daughters  must  do 
her  best  to  keep  up  with  her  ?  " 

26.  gentle.     Of  gentle  blood.     Masson  assumes  that  Lawes 
took  the  part  of  Genius  of  the  Wood. 

27.  honour.     Nobility  of  birth. 

30,  31.  Divine  Alpheus,  etc.  Alpheus  was  the  name  of  a 
river  in  Arcadia  which  ran  underground  for  some  distance. 
The  legend  was  that  Alpheus,  a  young  hunter,  was  in  love  with 
a  nymph  Arethusa,  and  when  she  fled  from  him  to  Ortygia  in 
Sicily,  he  was  turned  into  a  river  and  followed  her  under  the 
sea,  rising  again  in  Ortygia  where  the  waters  blended  with  those 
of  a  fountain  called  after  her,  Arethusa.  Cf.  Lycidas,  85,  132, 
and  ^Eneid,  iii.  694-696  : 

"Alpheus  the  river  of  Elis  made  himself  a  secret  passage 
under  the  sea ;  and  he  now,  through  thy  mouth,  Arethusa, 
blends  with  the  waters  of  Sicily." 

33.  silver-buskined  Nymphs.      The  ladies  of   the  masque 
wearing  buskins,  as  did  Diana  and  her  nymphs.     Cf.  ^Eneid, 
i.  336,  337  : 

"  Tyrian  maidens  like  me  are  wont  to  carry  the  quiver  and 
tie  the  purple  buskin  high  up  the  calf." 

34.  free,    noble  or  generous. 

46.  curl.     Drayton,  in  his  Polyolbion,  alluding  to  a  grove 
says,    "Where    she    her    curled    head    unto    the    eye    may 
show." 

47.  wanton  windings  wove.    Cf.  Faerie  Queene,  I.  ii.  13,  for 
alliteration : 

"  Whose  bridle  rung  with  golden  bels  and  bosses  brave."    (M.) 

51.  thwarting.     Athwart  or  zigzag.     (M.) 

52.  cross  dire-looking  planet.    Alluding  to  the  malignant 
influence  of  planets.     Cf.  Hamlet,  i.  1  : 

"  Then  no  planets  strike,"  etc. 

53.  hurtful  worm.     Cf.  Lycidas,  46. 

57.  tasselled  horn.     Cf.  Faerie  Queene,  I.  viii.  3: 


NOTES  171 


"Then  tooke  that  Squire  an  home  of  bugle  small, 
Which  hong  adowne  his  side  in  twisted  gold 
And  tasselles  gay." 

60.    murmurs.     Charms.     Cf.  Comus,  526. 

63-73.  the  celestial  Sirens'  harmony,  etc.  Milton's  idea  of 
the  music  of  the  spheres  is  that  each  of  the  nine  spheres  is 
presided  over  by  a  Muse.  As  the  spheres  revolve,  the  Muses 
sing  in  harmony,  while  the  Fates  are  turning  the  spindle  of 
Necessity  (adamantine)  on  which  the  threads  of  human  and 
divine  lives  are  wound.  Cf.  Plato,  Republic,  x.  Chap.  14. 

70.  unsteady  Nature.  Such  Nature  seemed  until  the  law  of 
the  whole  was  understood. 

72,  73.  which  none  can  hear,  etc.  Cf.  Merchant  of  Venice, 
v.  1: 

"  But  whilst  this  muddy  vesture  of  decay 
Doth  grossly  close  us  in,  we  cannot  hear  it." 

Cf.  Tennyson,  Higher  Pantheism : 

"  And  the  ear  of  man  cannot  hear,  and  the  eye  of  man  cannot 

see  ; 
But  if  we  could  see  and  hear,  this  Vision  —  were  it  not  He  ?  " 

81.   state.    Throne. 

88,  89.     shady  roof,  etc.     Cf.  Faerie  Queene,  I.  i.  7  : 

"Whose  loftie  trees,  yclad  with  sommer's  pride', 
Did  spred  so  broad,  that  heaven's  light  did  hide, 
Not  perceable  with  power  of  any  starr." 

97-109.  Ladon's,etc.  Ladon  was  a  river  in  Arcadia.  Lycceus, 
Cyllene  and  Mcenalus,  mountains  of  Arcadia.  Syrinx,  a  nymph 
who,  being  pursued  by  Pan,  was  changed  into  a  reed  of  which 
Pan  made  his  pipe. 

Massoii  thinks  the  allusion  here  is  to  the  masque  of  Ben  Jon- 
son's,  which  the  Countess  may  have  seen  many  years  before  at 
her  home,  Althorpe. 

"  And  the  dame  hath  Syrinx'  grace  ; 
O  that  Pan  were  now  in  place." 


172  NOTES 

TEXTUAL 

The  more  important  readings  in  the  Cambridge  Mss.  are  as 
follows  : 

1,  2.    Milton  originally  used  a  different  metre  : 

"  Look,  Nymphs  and  Shepherds,  look  !  here  ends  our  quest, 
Since  at  last  our  eyes  are  blest." 

These  lines  were  dashed  out  with  a  cross  line  to  begin  as  now. 
10-14.    These  four  lines  were  : 

' '  Now  seems  guilty  of  abuse 
And  detraction  from  her  praise  : 
Less  than  half  she  hath  expressed  ; 
Envy  bid  her  hide  the  rest." 

"  Her  hide  "  is  erased  and  "  conceal "  written  over  it. 
18.    Sitting,  was  "seated." 

23.  Juno.     This  was  erased  and  "Ceres"  substituted,  and 
again  "Ceres"  erased  and  "Juno"  restored. 

24.  had,  was  "would  have." 

41.  What  shallow-searching,  was  '  *  Those  virtues  which  dull. ' ' 

44.  am,  was  "have." 

47.  With,  was  "In." 

49.  and,  was  "or." 

50.  boughs,  was  "  leaves. " 
52.  Or,  was  "that." 

59.   This  line  was,  "  And  number  all  my  ranks  and  every 
sprout. " 

62.    locked  up  mortal  sense,  was  "  chained  mortality." 
81.    ye,  was  "you." 
91.   you,  was  "ye." 

1634-1637-1645 

COMUS 

(Two  copies,  one,  Lawes'  stage-copy  ;  and  the  other  in  Milton's 
own  hand  in  the  Cambridge  MSS.) 

Green  says  :  "  The  historic  interest  of  Milton's  Comus  lies  in 
its  forming  part  of  a  protest  made  by  the  more  cultured  Puritans 


at  this  tin 

fnst.prino- 


NOTES  173 


at  this  time  against  the  gloomier  bigotry  which  persecution  was 
fostering  in  the  party  at  large." 

In  respect  of  the  time,  nature  of  the  occasion,  and  the  charac- 
ters involved,  Comus  and  Arcades  are  closely  connected.  Sir 
John  Egerton,  first  Earl  of  Bridgewater,  was  the  son  of  the 
Countess-Dowager's  second  husband,  Sir  Thomas  Egerton,  by  a 
previous  marriage  ;  he  married  Frances,  daughter  of  the  Countess 
by  her  first  husband,  Lord  Strange.  Their  children  were  the 
two  sons  who  acted  in  the  masque  Ccelum  Britannicum,  and 
who  were  concerned  in  the  previous  masque  Arcades  ;  two  mar- 
ried daughters,  and  the  beautiful  Lady  Alice,  unmarried.  Sir 
John  was  appointed  Lord  President  of  the  Council  in  the  prin- 
cipality of  VVales  in  June,  1631.  The  official  seat  was  at  Ludlow 
Castle  in  Shropshire,  built  by  the  descendants  of  the  Conqueror. 
The  site  of  the  castle,  on  the  rocky  heights  above  the  green  valley 
where  two  rivers  meet,  is  beautiful  and  commands  a  magnificent 
outlook  over  the  surrounding  country.  Its  associations  are  those 
of  the  old  wars  of  Welsh  and  Norman,  the  Wars  of  the  Roses, 
and  the  history  of  the  Prince  of  Wales. 

"  Child  of  loud-throated  War  !  the  mountain  stream 
Roars  in  thy  hearing  ;  but  thy  hour  of  rest 
Is  come,  and  thou  art  silent  in  thy  age." 

The  Earl  did  not  assume  the  duties  of  office  until  1634.  The 
festivities  of  inauguration  were  enlivened  by  the  performance  of 
a  masque  in  the  great  hall  of  the  castle  by  members  of  the  Earl's 
family,  in  the  presence  of  a  distinguished  assembly  of  guests,  on 
Michaelmas  Night,  September  29. 

The  association  of  the  two  young  rons  of  the  Earl  with  Lawes 
in  the  Cesium  Britannicum,  and  with  Lawes  and  Milton  in  Ar- 
cades, is  sufficient  to  account  for  their  respective  parts  in  this 
distinguished  pageant.  Lady  Alice  took  the  part  of  The  Lady, 
the  two  brothers  the  parts  of  first  and  second  Brother  respec- 
tively, and  Lawes  himself  that  of  the  Attendant  Spirit. 

The  name  Comus  was  not  applied  to  the  masque  during  Mil- 
ton's life.  In  the  Cambridge  Ms.  it  is —  "  A  Masque  Presented 
at  Ludlow  Castle,  1634,  before  the  Earl  of  Bridgewater,  Lord 


174  NOTES 

President  of  Wales."  In  the  Bridge-water  Ms.,  which  probably 
Lawes  used  as  a  stage-copy,  the  masque  begins  with  a  song  of 
twenty  lines,  which  in  Milton's  arrangement  occupies  lines  976- 
999 ;  he  made  it  a  song  of  arrival  by  changing  To  the  Ocean 
into  From  the  heavens,  and  Where  young  Adonis  oft  reposes 
into  Where  a  cherub  soft  reposes.  It  is  evident  from  this  that 
Lawes  thought  it  would  be  more  effective  for  the  Attendant 
Spirit  to  descend  into  the  wood  with  a  song  than  with  a  speech. 
On  his  departure  he  sang  the  song  as  it  is  now  in  the  epilogue. 

We  can  never  know  whether  or  not  Milton  was  present  at 
this  splendid  performance,  but  we  know  that  if  he  were  it  was 
not  as  the  known  author  of  the  masque,  for  the  authorship  was 
a  secret  known  only  to  Lawes  and  the  Earl's  family.  But  the 
author  of  such  a  success  could  not  long  be  concealed.  Inquiries 
were  made  in  regard  to  the  production  ;  copies  of  the  songs 
were  asked  for,  and  then  of  the  entire  masque.  At  last  in  1637 
Lawes  published  it  with  this  title-page  : 

"  A  Maske  presented  at  Ludlow  Castle  1634,  on  Michaelmas 
Night,  before  the  Right  Honourable  John,  Earl  of  Bridgewater, 
Viscount  Brackley,  Lord  President  of  Wales,  and  one  of  His 
Majesties'  Most  honourable  Privy  Counsell. 

"  '  Eheu  quid  volui  misero  mihi !  floribus  Austrum  Perditus."1 

"  London  :  Printed  for  Humphrey  Robinson,  at  the  signe  of 
the  Three  Pidgeons  in  Paul's  Churchyard,  1637." 

Masson  thinks  that  the  Latin  motto  on  the  title-page  was  sup- 
plied by  Milton,  and  that  in  it  he  expressed  a  fear  that  he  may 
have  been  foolish  in  letting  the  masque  bs  published. 

The  volume  was  dedicated  to  the  Earl's  son,  young  Viscount 
Brackley,  who  took  the  part  of  First  Brother  (cf .  p.  52).  The  music 
which  Lawes  composed  for  the  songs  in  Comus  exists  in  the  Mss. 
of  the  British  Museum,  written  in  his  own  hand,  with  the  heading : 

"  Five  Songs  set  for  a  Mask  presented  at  Ludlo  Castle  be- 
fore the  Earl  of  Bridgewater,  Lord  President  of  the  Marches: 
October  1634." 

Cf.  sonnet,  To  Mr.  H.  Lawe-s  on  his  Airs. 

Milton  first  published  the  masque  in  the  edition  of  1645,  with 
this  title-page  :  A  Masque  of  the  Same  Author,  presented  at 


NOTES  175 


Ludlow  Castle,  1634,  before  the  Earl  of  Bridgewater,  then 
President  of  Wales:  Anno  Dom.,  1645.  Lawes'  dedication  and 
the  letter  from  Sir  Henry  Wotton  were  included  (cf.  p.  49). 

Those  who  show  "how  to  make  careful  literal  identification 
of  stories  somewhere  told  ill  and  without  art,  with  the  same 
stories  told  over  again  by  the  masters,  well  and  with  the  trans- 
figuring effect  of  genius,"  tell  us  that  this  most  original  poem 
of  its  kind  in  English  literature,  owes  much  to  Peele's  Old 
Wives'1  Tale,  Fletcher's  Faithful  Shepherdess,  Ben  Jonson's 
Pleasure  Reconciled  to  Virtue,  and  Hendrik  van  der  Puttens' 
Latin  extravaganza  Comus.  What  Tennyson  said  of  this  class 
of  critics  is  to  the  point  : 

' '  There  is,  I  fear,  a  prosaic  set  growing  up  among  us,  editors 
of  booklets,  book-worms,  index-hunters,  or  men  of  great  mem- 
ories and  no  imagination,  who  impute  themselves  to  the  poet, 
and  so  believe  that  he,  too,  has  no  imagination,  but  is  forever 
poking  his  nose  between  the  pages  of  some  old  volume  in  order 
to  see  what  he  can  appropriate." 

On  the  whole,  Time  treats  great  things  greatly.  This  reveals 
how  close  to  the  great  world's  heart  noble  poetry  lies.  It  has 
been  said  that  we  are  all  poets  when  we  read  a  poem  well. 
This  poem  has  been  well  read  and  worthily  praised.  Here  is  a 
great  subject  so  penetrated  by  the  imagination  as  to  reveal  its 
soul,  its  inward  harmony  with  those  "primal  sympathies  which 
having  been,  must  ever  be."  It  is  perhaps  the  finest  illustration 
in  English  literature  of  what  Carlyle  calls  "Musical  Thought." 

"All  we  see  before  us  passing, 
Sign  and  symbol  is  alone  ; 
Here,  what  thought  can  never  reach  to, 
Is  by  semblances  made  known  ; 
What  man's  word  may  never  utter 
Done  in  act  —  in  symbol  shown." 

GOETHE,  Faust. 

Mr.  Stopford  Brooke  says  :  "  It  is  in  the  full-weighted  dignity 
of  the  blank  verse  that  the  poem  was  then  unparalleled.  It 
was  marked  by  a  greater  grandeur  of  style  and  thought,  by  a 


176  NOTES 

graver  beauty,  and  a  more  exercised  and  self-conscious  art  than 
any  poem  of  its  character  which  England  had  as  yet  known.  It 
belonged  to  the  Elizabethan  spirit,  but  it  went  beyond  it,  and 
made  a  new  departure  for  English  poetry. 

All  the  kinds  of  poetry  which  Milton  touched  he  touched 
with  the  ease  of  great  strength,  and  with  so  much  energy  that 
they  became  new  in  his  hands.  He  put  a  fresh  life  into  the 
masque,  the  sonnet,  the  elegy,  the  descriptive  lyric,  the  song, 
the  choral  drama  ;  and  he  created  the  epic  in  England." 

Professor  George  Saintsbury  says  :  "  The  versification  is  the 
versification  of  Paradise  Lost  and  has  a  spring,  a  variety,  a 
sweep  and  rush  of  genius  which  are  but  rarely  present  later. 
If  poetry  could  be  taught  by  the  reading  of  it,  then  indeed  the 
critic's  advice  to  a  poet  might  be  limited  to  this  :  'Give  your 
days  and  nights  to  the  reading  of  Comus.''  " 

Sir  Henry  Wotton,  Provost  of  Eton  College,  was  perhaps  the 
first  to  express  to  Milton  his  appreciation  of  the  poem  (cf.  p.  49). 

"  Comus,"  says  Hallam,  "  was  sufficient  to  convince  any  one  of 
taste  and  feeling  that  a  great  poet  had  arisen  in  England  and  one 
partly  formed  in  a  different  school  from  his  contemporaries." 

Emerson  says  :  "  Milton  is  rightly  dear  to  mankind,  because 
in  him  —  among  so  many  perverse  and  partial  men  of  genius  — 
humanity  rights  itself  :  the  old  eternal  goodness  finds  a  home  in 
his  breast, >r and  for  once  shows  itself  beautiful.  Among  so 
many  contrivances  to  make  holiness  ugly,  in  Milton  at  least  it 
was  so  pure  a  flame  that  the  foremost  impression  his  characters 
make  is  that  of  elegance.  He  said,  'Every  free  and  gentle 
spirit,  without  the  oath  of  chastity,  ought  to  be  born  a  knight : 
nor  needed  to  expect  the  gilt  spur,  or  the  laying  a  sword  upon 
his  shoulder,  to  stir  him  up,  by  his  counsel  and  his  arms,  to 
secure  and  protect  innocence.'  This  native  honor  never  for- 
sook him.  It  is  the  spirit  of  Comus,  the  loftiest  song  in  praise 
of  chastity  that  is  in  any  language." 

Mr.  Henry  Van  Dyke  says:  "The  Lady  in  Comus  is  the 
sweet  embodiment  of  Milton's  youthful  ideal  of  virtue  clothed 
with  the  fairness  of  opening  womanhood,  armed  with  the  sun- 
clad  power  of  chastity." 


NOTES  111 


"No  courtier  of  Charles  I,"  says  F.  D.  Maurice,  "felt  the 
attraction  of  the  masques  and  entertainments  in  which  the 
monarch  and  his  wife  delighted,  more  than  the  young  Puritan. 
In  the  masque  of  '  Comus '  the  object  was  to  exhibit  in  richer  and 
more  glorious  verse  than  had  ever  been  consecrated  to  courtly 
tastes  and  courtly  indulgences,  the  battle  of  virtue  with  its 
tempters,  and  the  Divine  help  which  is  sustaining  it  against 
them." 

3.  insphered.     Cf.  II  Penseroso,  88,  and  Arcades,  63-73. 

4.  serene.     Some  critics  think  this  should  be  accented  on 
the  first  syllable,  but  Masson  prefers  the  usual  pronunciation  of 
the  word. 

7.  pestered.  From  in  and  pastorium,  a  clog  upon  a  horse 
at  pasture,  hence  to  encumber. 

pinfold.  Anglo-Saxon  pyndan,  to  shut  in;  hence  a  pound  in 
which  stray  beasts  are  put. 

11.    enthroned.     A  dissyllable. 

13.    golden  key.     Cf.  Lycidas,  111. 

16.  ambrosial  weeds.  Celestial  garments.  Cf.  L"1 Allegro, 
120,  and  note. 

20.  high  and  nether  Jove.  Jupiter  and  Pluto.  Cf.  Homer, 
Iliad,  ix.  457,  Zeus  re  Karax^ovios,  Subterranean  Jove,  i.e.  Pluto. 

"  The  air  is  Zeus,  Zeus  earth,  and  Zeus  the  heaven, 
Zeus  all  that  is,  and  what  transcends  them  all." 

^ESCHYLOS,  Fragment,  293,  Plumptre. 

23.   unadorndd.     Supply  before  this,  "otherwise." 
25.   several.     Separate. 

27.   this  Isle,  etc.     Great  Britain.     Cf.  Richard  II.  ii.  1  : 
"  This  royal  throne  of  kings,"  etc. 

29.  quarters.     Divides. 

blue-haired.     An  epithet  relating  to  them  as  of  the  sea. 

"The  blue-haired  ocean."  —  Mansus. 

30.  this  tract,  etc.     Western  Britain  or  Wales. 

31.  noble  Peer,  etc.     The  Earl  of  Bridgewater. 
mickle.     Much. 

N 


178  NOTES 

33.  old  and  haughty.     The  Welsh,  proud  of  being  descend- 
ants of  the  Celts. 

34.  nursed.     Educated. 

43-45.  for  I  will  tell,  etc.  Cf.  A  Midsummer  Night's  Dream, 
v.  1: 

"Come  now;  what  masques,  what  dances  shall  we  have, 
To  wear  away  this  long  age  of  three  hours 
Between  our  after-supper  and  bed-time  ? 
Where  is  our  usual  manager  of  mirth  ? 
What  revels  are  in  hand  ?     Is  there  no  play, 
To  ease  the  anguish  of  a  torturing  hour  ? 

What  masque,  what  music  ?     How  shall  we  beguile 
The  lazy  time,  if  not  with  some  delight  ?  " 

45.    hall  or  bower.    Large  public  room  and  private  apartments. 
46-50.   Bacchus,  etc. 

"  Think  not  that  wine  against  good  verse  offends  ; 
The  Muse  and  Bacchus  have  been  always  friends." 

Elegy  vi. 

48.  After  the  Tuscan  mariners  transformed.  After  the 
transformation  of  the  Tuscan  mariners.  Alluding  to  the  seizure 
of  Bacchus  by  pirates  and  their  transformation  into  dolphins  as 
given  in  Homer's  Hymn  to  Bacchus. 

50.   Circe's  island.     Cf.  Odyssey,  x. 

54-58.    This  genealogy  of  Comus  is  a  creation  of  Milton. 

60.    Celtic  and  Iberian.     France  and  Spain. 

65.    orient.     Shining. 

67.    fond.     Foolish. 

74.  Not  once  perceive,  etc.  This  is  a  variation  from  the 
Homeric  account,  where  the  companions  of  Ulysses  are  con- 
scious of  their  state. 

83.   spun  out  of  Iris'  woof.    Cf.  Paradise  Lost,  xi.  244 : 

"  Iris  had  dipt  the  woof." 

84-91.  a  swain,  etc.  A  compliment  to  Henry  Lawes,  who 
was  the  actor  of  the  part. 


NOTES  179 


88.   of  less  faith.    Not  less  trustworthy  than  he  is  skilled  in 
music.     (M.) 
92.   viewless.     Cf.  Paradise  Lost,  iii.  516-518  : 

"  Each  stair  mysteriously  was  meant,  nor  stood 
There  always,  but  drawn  up  to  Heaven  sometimes 
Viewless." 

95-97.   the  gilded  car  of  day,  etc.     Alluding  to  the  ancient 
idea  that  the  ocean  hissed  when  the  setting  sun  dropped  into  it. 
98.    slope.     Declining,  aslope. 
105.    rosy  twine.     Wreaths  of  roses. 
110.   saws.     Maxims. 

"  I'll  wipe  away  all  trivial  fond  records, 
All  saws  of  books,"  etc.  —  Hamlet,  i.  5. 

113.  spheres.  Cf.  Arcades,  63-73,  II  Penseroso,  88,  89,  and 
notes. 

116.    morrice.     A  dance  introduced  by  the  Moors. 

129.  Cotytto.  A  Thracian  divinity  whose  rites  were  asso- 
ciated with  impurity. 

132.    spets.     Old  form  of  spits. 

135.  Hecat'.  Hecate.  Presiding  genius  of  witchcraft,  sor- 
cery, etc.  Cf.  Macbeth,  ii.  1  : 

"  witchcraft  celebrates 
Pale  Hecate's  offerings." 

144.   fantastic  round.     Cf.  V Allegro,  34,  note. 

151.   trains.     Allurements. 

154.  dazzling  spells,  etc.  Some  device  is  here  resorted  to 
for  producing  brilliant  scintillations  which  the  air  (spongy) 
sucks  up. 

167.  Whom  thrift,  etc.  This  line  is  omitted  in  ed.  of  1673 
and  the  next  two  are  transposed. 

175.    granges.     Granaries. 

188.    grey-hooded  Even.     Cf.  Wordsworth,  Sonnet : 

"  It  is  a  beauteous  evening  calm  and  free  : 
The  holy  time  is  quiet  as  a  nun." 


180  NOTES 

204,    single.     Pure,  unmixed. 

207.  calling  shapes.  Cf.  Fletcher,  Faithful  Shepherdess 
(Newton)  : 

"  Or  voices  calling  me  in  dead  of  night 
To  make  me  follow." 

215.   Chastity.     Substituted  by  Milton  for  Charity. 

232.   Meander.     A  river  of  Asia  Minor  full  of  windings. 

234.    nightingale.     Cf.  To  the  Nightingale,  note. 

237.  Narcissus.  The  beautiful  youth  in  love  for  whom  Echo 
pined  away  till  only  her  voice  was  left,  and  who  was  changed 
into  a  flower. 

253.  with  the  Sirens.     This  is  invented  by  Milton. 

254.  flowery-kirtled.     Wreathed  in  flowers. 

257-259.  Scylla  .  .  .  Charybdis.     Cf.  JEneM,  iii.  551-560. 

267.    Unless.     Supply  after  this,  "thou  be." 

289.   Hebe.     Goddess  of  youth. 

293.    swinked.     Fatigued. 

299.    element.     Air  or  sky. 

301.   plighted.     Pleated,  folded. 

313.    bosky.     Woody. 

315.   attendance.     For  attendants. 

317.  low-roosted.  The  lark's  nest  is  on  the  ground.  That 
dear  old  poet,  Izaak  Walton,  says:  "At  first  the  Lark,  when 
she  means  to  rejoice,  to  cheer  herself  and  those  that  hear,  she 
then  quits  the  earth  and  sings  as  she  ascends  higher  into  the 
air ;  and  having  ended  her  heavenly  employment  grows  mute 
and  sad  to  think  she  must  descend  to  the  dull  earth  which  she 
would  not  touch  but  for  necessity." 

334.   disinherit.     Dispossess. 

341,  342.  star  of  Arcady,  etc.  Alluding  to  the  Great  Bear 
being  as  Tyrian  Cynosure  to  the  pole-star  in  it ;  Callisto, 
daughter  of  the  King  of  Arcady,  was  changed  into  the  Great 
Bear.  The  Tyrian  sailors  steered  by  Cynosure  —  the  pole-star. 

360.   To  cast  the  fashion.     To  anticipate  the  form. 

366.  so  to  seek.     So  helpless. 

367.  unprincipled.     Unlearned. 


NOTES  181 

380.   all  to-ruffled.     Ruffled  very  much,  completely. 
382.   i'  the  centre.     Of  the  earth.     Cf.  Hamlet,  ii.  2  ; 

"I  will  find 

Where  truth  is  hid,  even  though  it  were  hid  indeed 
Within  the  centre." 

385.   Himself  is  his  own  dungeon.     Cf.  Samson  Agonistes  : 

"  Thou  art  become  (0  worse  imprisonment !) 
The  dungeon  of  thyself." 

393.  Hesperian  tree.  That  bore  the  golden  apples  in  the 
garden  of  the  Hesperides  watched  by  the  dragon  which  Her- 
cules slew. 

395.   unenchanted.     Not  to  be  enchanted. 

398.   unsunned.     Hidden. 

401.   wink  on.     Fail  to  see. 

407.  unowned.     Unprotected. 

408.  Infer.     Argue. 

413.  squint  suspicion.  Spenser  in  Faerie  Queene,  III.  xii.  15, 
says  of  Suspicion  : 

"  His  rolling  eies  did  never  rest  in  place." 

423.   trace.     Traverse. 

unharboured.     Not  affording  shelter. 

432.    Some  say  no  evil  thing.     Cf.  Hamlet,  i.  1  : 

'  Some  say  that  ever  'gainst  that  season  comes 
Wherein  our  Saviour's  birth  is  celebrated, 
The  bird  of  dawning  singeth  all  night  long  : 
And  then,  they  say,  no  spirit  dares  stir  abroad." 

434,  435.   unlaid  ghost,  etc.     Cf.  Tempest,  v.  1 : 

"whose  pastime 

Is  to  make  midnight  mushrooms,  that  rejoice 
To  hear  the  solemn  curfew." 

430.    swart.     Black. 


182  NOTES 

439.  Antiquity.  Up  to  this  time  allusion  had  been  made 
only  to  Mediaeval  legend. 

453.  So  dear  to  Heaven.  Now  the  speaker  passes  into  Pla- 
tonic philosophy  with  a  touch  of  Christianity.  (M. ) 

459-469.  Till  oft,  etc.  Platonism.  Cf.  Byron,  Prisoner  of 
Chilian  : 

' '  So  much  a  long  communion  tends 
To  make  us  what  we  are." 

Cf.  Tennyson,  By  an  Evolutionist,  and  Browning,  Rabbi  Ben 
Ezra. 

476-479.  How  charming,  etc.  An  allusion  to  Plato,  whom 
Milton  admired. 

491.  you  fall  on  iron  stakes  else.  A  caution  to  those  who 
may  be  friendly.  (M.) 

494,  495.    Thyrsis,  etc.    A  compliment  to  Henry  Lawes. 

495-512.  Note  the  rhyme  scheme  here.  The  purpose  is  to 
prolong  to  feeling  of  pastoralism  by  calling  up  the  cadence  of 
known  English  pastorals.  (M.) 

515-518.  What  the  sage  poets,  etc.  An  allusion  to  the 
stories  of  Homer  and  Virgil. 

520.   navel.     Centre. 

526.   murmurs.     Spells. 

529.    unmoulding.     Destroying. 

531.    hilly  crofts.     Upland  pastures. 

534.   stabled  wolves.     Wolves  in  pens. 

552-554.    Till  an  unusual  stop.     Alluding  to  line  145. 

drowsy-flighted.     Startled  from  their  drowse. 

555-562.  At  last,  etc.  A  beautiful  compliment  to  the  singing 
of  Lady  Alice. 

604.  Acheron.    The  infernal  river,  here  used  for  Hell.     Cf. 
Phineas  Fletcher's  Locusts : 

"All  hell  run  out,  and  sooty  flags  display."     (M.) 

605.  Harpies.     Cf.  JSneid,  iii.  216-218: 

"  Birds  with  maidens'  faces,  a  foul  discharge,  crooked  talons, 
and  on  their  cheeks  the  pallor  of  eternal  famine." 

606.  Ind.     India  :  the  region  of  black  enchantments.     (M.) 


i 


NOTES  183 

curls.     Comus  the  voluptuary  god  wore  curls.     (K.) 
619-628.   shepherd  lad.     An  allusion  to  Milton's  friend  Dio- 
dati.     Cf.  Epitapliium  Damonis  and  Elegies  i.,  vi. 
627.    simples.     Medicinal  herbs. 

635.  clouted  shoon.  Mended  shoes. 

636.  Moly.     Cf.  Odyssey,  x.    By  this  plant  Ulysses  is  made 
proof  from  the  charms  of  Circe. 

"The  root  is  black, 

The  blossom  white  as  milk.     Among  the  gods 
It's  name  is  Moly." 

638.  Haemony.  Milton  invents  this.  It  may  be  from  Ha>- 
monia,  the  old  name  for  Thessaly,  the  land  of  magic.  (M.) 

646.  lime-twigs.     Snares  smeared  with  bird  lime. 

655.  like  the  sons  of  Vulcan,  vomit  smoke.  Cf.  JEneid,  viii. 
251-253,  where  the  giant  Cacus,  son  of  Vulcan,  is  alluded  to  : 

"  Cacus,  half  man,  half  brute. 

This  monster's  father  was  Vulcan.     Vulcan's 

Were  the  murky  fires  that  he  disgorged  from  his  mouth." 

661.  Daphne.  Who  when  Apollo  pursued  her  was  turned 
into  a  laurel  tree. 

672.   julep.   Rose-water,  here  a  cordial. 

675.  Nepenthes.  A  drug  which  Helen  gave  to  Menelaus. 
Cf .  Odyssey,  iv.  220  : 

"  Helen,  Jove-born  dame, 
With  the  wine  they  drank  mingled  a  drug, 
An  antidote  to  grief  and  anger." 

I    wife  of  Thone.    Polydamna  an  Egyptian. 
698.   vizored.    Disguised. 
707.   those  budge  doctors  of  the  Stoic  fur.     Budge  was  an 
old  name  for  lamb's  fur,  as  worn  on  scholastic  gowns. 
Stoic.     Who  despised  the  pleasures  of  the  senses. 
708.   Cynic  tub.     Of  Diogenes. 
711.   unwithdrawing.    Liberal. 


184  NOTES 

719.   hutched.     Put  in  a  chest. 

721.   pulse.    Beans,  pease,  etc. 

739-755.  Beauty  is  Nature's  coin,  etc.  Cf.  Shakespeare's 
Sonnets,  i.-vi. 

750.   sorry  grain.    Poor  color. 

ply  the  sampler.  Make  needle  work  for  samples.  Cf.  Mid- 
summer Night's  Dream,  iii.  2  : 

"We,  Hermia,  like  two  artificial  gods, 
Have  with  our  needles  created  both  one  flower, 
Both  on  one  sampler." 

756-761.   These  lines  are  an  Aside. 

760.    bolt.     Refine. 

791.    fence.     Thrusts.     The  figure  is  from  fencing. 

800-806.     These  lines  are  an  Aside. 

803.  wrath  of  Jove.     In  the  war  of  the  Titans. 

804.  Erebus.     Infernal  regions. 

809,  810.  'tis  but  the  lees,  etc.  An  allusion  to  the  old  idea 
that  the  gases  of  the  stomach  rose  and  affected  the  brain. 

816.  rod  reversed.  According  to  the  old  customs  of  undoing 
the  spell  by  reversing  the  rod  and  pronouncing  the  words  of 
the  charm  backwards.  (M.) 

822.  Melibceus.     Common  name  for  shepherds.      Here  for 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth. 

823.  soothest.     Truest. 

824-827.  There  is  a  gentle  Nymph,  etc.  Milton  at  one  time 
meditated  a  poem  on  the  settlement  of  Britain.  He  wrote  a 
history  of  Britain  as  far  as  the  Conquest.  He  here  alludes  to 
the  old  legend  in  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth's  History  of  the 
Britons,  which  makes  Brutus  the  second  founder  of  Britain. 
One  of  his  sons,  Locrine,  although  he  was  engaged  to  Guen- 
dolen  of  Cornwall,  fell  in  love  with  Estrildis,  a  German  princess. 
Guendolen's  father  forced  him  to  marry  her,  but  Estrildis  lived 
in  his  palace  and  bore  him  a  daughter,  Sabre,  or  Sabrina. 
He  divorced  Guendolen  and  acknowledged  Estrildis  and  her 
daughter,  but  Guendolen  rallied  the  Cornish  people  to  her  sup- 
port, defeated  Locrine  and  commanded  Estrildis  and  her  daugh- 


NOTES  185 

ter  to  be  drowned  in  the  river,  now  called  Severn  from  the 
daughter's  name.     Cf.  Faerie  Qneene,  II.  x.  14-19 : 

'  The  one  she  slew  upon  the  present  floure  ; 
But  the  sad  virgin,  innocent  of  all, 
Adowne  the  rolling  river  she  did  poure, 
Which  of  her  name  now  Severne  men  do  call."     (19.) 


It  was  a  very  effective  compliment  to  the  people  of  Wales. 
Milton  varies  the  legend  a  little  in  the  interest  of  Sabrina. 

835.  aged  Nereus'  hall.  Milton  blends  classic  mythology 
with  the  British  legend.  Nereus  was  father  of  the  sea  nymphs, 
Nereids. 

838.   asphodil.     A  flower  which  grew  in  the  Elysian  fields. 

845.  Helping  all  urchin  blasts.     The  urchin  or  hedgehog  was 
the  form  often  assumed  by  mischievous  elves.     Helping  is  cur- 
ing.    Cf.  Tempest,  ii.  2.     Caliban  alluding  to  Prospero's  Spirits 
says: 

"  Sometimes  like  apes  they  mow  and  chatter  at  me, 
And  after  bite  me  ;  then  like  hedgehogs  which 
Lie  tumbling  in  my  barefoot  way,"  etc. 

846.  meddling  elf.    One  of  the  followers  of  Robin  Goodfellow. 
Cf.  V Allegro,  105,  and  note. 

852.   old  swain.     Meliboeus. 

858.  After  praising  the  speeches,  Macaulay  says:  "The  in- 
terruptions of  the  dialogue  impose  a  constraint  upon  the  writer, 
and  break  the  illusion  of  the  reader.  The  finest  passages  are 
those  which  are  lyric  in  form  as  well  as  in  spirit.  .  .  .  When 
he  is  at  liberty  to  indulge  his  choral  raptures  without  reserve, 
he  rises  even  above  himself.  ...  He  stands  forth  in  celestial 
freedom  and  beauty." 

863.    amber-dropping.    Amber-colored  and  dripping  with  wet. 

867-889.  Listen  and  appear  to  us,  etc.  Allusions  to  the  clas- 
sical mythology  here  are  :  Oceanus,  god  of  the  great  stream 
which  encircled  the  habitable  world;  Neptune  is  a  later  sea 
king.  Tethys  is  the  wife  of  Oceanus  and  mother  of  the  river 
gods.  Nereus,  see  note  to  line  835.  Carpathian  Wizard  is 


186  NOTES 

Proteus,  who  could  change  into  any  shape ;  he  lived  in  a  cave  in 
Carpathus  in  the  Mediterranean.  He  was  a  sea  shepherd  and 
his  flock  was  of  sea  calves.  Cf.  Virgil,  Georgics,  iv. : 

"In  the  sea  gods'  Carpathian  gulf  there  lives  a  seer,  Proteus, 
of  the  sea's  own  hue,  who  takes  the  measure  of  the  mighty  deep 
with  his  fishes,  even  with  his  harnessed  two-legged  steeds." 

Triton,  son  of  Neptune,  rode  on  sea  horses,  blowing  his 
"  wreathed  horn." 

Glaucus  was  a  fisherman  who,  having  eaten  a  certain  herb, 
was  changed  into  a  sea  god,  and  roved  about  islands  uttering 
oracles  for  sailors.  Leucothea  (white  goddess)  was  Ino,  daugh- 
ter of  Cadmus.  She  threw  herself  and  her  son  into  the  sea 
and  was  changed  into  a  sea  deity.  Cf.  Paradise  Lost,  xi.  135  : 

"  Leucothea  waked  and  with  fresh  dews  embalmed  the  Earth." 

Her  son  was  god  of  ports  and  harbors.  Thetis,  one  of  the 
daughters  of  Nereus,  was  mother  of  Achilles  ;  Homer  calls  her 
silverfooted.  Parthenope  and  Ligea  were  Sirens  ;  the  tomb  of 
the  former  was  at  Naples.  The  golden  comb  seems  to  suggest 
the  mermaids  of  northern  mythology  seen  "  combing  their 
golden  hair."  (M.) 

"  With  a  comb  of  pearl  I  would  comb  my  hair." 

TENNYSON,  The  Mermaid. 

893.  azurn.     Azure. 

894.  turkis.     Turquoise. 

895.  strays.     Moved  along  by  tide. 
897.   printless  feet.     Cf.  Tempest,  v.  1  : 

Arid  ye  that  on  the  sands  with  printless  foot 
Do  chase  the  ebbing  Neptune." 

921.  Amphitrite's  bower.  Chamber  of  Amphitrite,  the  wife 
of  Neptune. 

923.  Anchises'  line.  Anchises  was  the  founder  of  the  line 
through  ^Eneas,  Brutus,  etc. 

929.   tresses.     Foliage  on  thy  banks. 

934.  lofty  head.  Source  of  the  river,  and  possibly  put  for 
the  river  itself. 


NOTES  187 

958.  Back,  shepherds.     The  country  dancers  are  interrupted 
by  the  arrival  of  this  party. 

959.  sun- shine  holiday.    Compare  this  merrymaking  with  that 
in  V Allegro,  92-98. 

900.   without  duck  or  nod.     They  are  now  to  lay  aside  their 
country  ways  and  assume  the  manners  of  the  courtly  dancers. 
976-979.     To  the  ocean,  etc.     Cf.  Ariel's  song  in  Tempest, 

v.  1  : 

"  Where  the  bee  sucks,  there  suck  I ; 
In  a  cowslip's  bell  I  lie  ; 
There  I  couch  when  owls  do  cry. 
On  the  bat's  back  I  do  fly,"  etc. 

Compare  these  closing  lines  of  Comus  with  "Thence  through 
the  gardens,"  etc.  Cf.  Tennyson's  Recollections  of  the  Arabian 
Nights. 

981.   the  gardens,  etc.     Cf.  393,  note. 

990.   cedarn.    Of  cedar. 

998.  Beds  of  hyacinths.  Cf.  Faerie  Queene,  iii.  vi.  46. 
Adonis  lies 

"Lapped  in  flowres  and  pretious  spy  eery." 

1002.    Assyrian  queen.     Astarte,  identified  with  Venus  here. 
1004.    Cupid,  etc.     Cf.  Faerie  Queene,  iii.  vi.  50 : 

"  And  his  trew  love  faire  Psyche  with  him  playes,"  etc. 

1009.  side.     Cf.  Tennyson's  Eizpah  : 

"  They  are  mine — not 
Theirs  —  they  had  moved  in  my  side." 

1010.  blissful  twins.     Spenser  gives  but  one  child  to  Psyche  : 
"  Pleasure,  the  daughter  of  Cupid  and  Psyche  late." 

1017.   corners  of  the  moon.     Cf.  Macbeth,  iii.  5  : 

"  Upon  the  corner  of  the  moon 
There  hangs  a  vaporous  drop  profound." 

1022.  Or,  if  Virtue  feeble  were.  Masson  gives  an  interest- 
ing anecdote  in  connection  with  the  last  two  lines  of  Comus. 


188  NOTES 

When  Milton  was  returning  home  from  his  continental  travel  in 
1639,  he  met  in  Geneva  a  teacher  of  Italian,  Cerdogni  or  Car- 
douin,  a  Neapolitan  by  birth,  and  probably  a  Protestant. 
Cardouin  asked  Milton  to  write  in  his  album.  He  complied  and 

wrote  — 

"  If  Virtue  feeble  were 
Heaven  itselfe  would  stoope  to  her. 

"  Ccelum  non  animum  muto  dum  trans  mare  curro. 

"JOANNES    MlLTONIUS. 

"  Junii  10,  1630.  Anglus." 

Masson  says,  "If  we  combine  the  English  lines  with  the 
Latin  addition,  it  is  as  if  he  said:  "The  closing  words  of  my 
Comus  are  a  permanent  maxim  with  me." 

The  album  was  sold  in  Geneva  in  1834  for  a  few  shillings, 
and  after  passing  through  several  hands  came  into  the  posses- 
sion of  Hon.  Charles  Summer.  It  is  now  in  the  Sumner  collec- 
tion, Harvard  College  Library. 

VARIATIONS  IN  STAGE-DIRECTIONS 

Stage-directions  in  the  Cambridge  Ms.,  afterwards  changed  by 
Milton,  are:  Instead  of  the  opening  stage-direction,  "The  At- 
tendant Spirit  descends  or  enters,'"  we  have  — 

A  Guardian  Spirit  or  Daemon. 

After  line  92:  Goes  out.  —  Comus  enters,  with  a  charming- 
rod  and  glass  of  liquor,  with  his  rout  all  headed  like  some  wild 
beasts,  their  garments  some  like  men's  and  some  like  women's. 
They  come  in  a  wild  and  antic  fashion.  Intrant  Kw/idfoj/res. 

After  144  :   Tlie  Measure,  in  a  ivild,  rude,  and  wanton  Antic. 

After  147,  where  there  is  no  stage-direction  now,  we  have  : 
They  all  scatter. 

After  243,  where  there  is  no  stage-direction  now,  we  have  : 
Comus  looks  in  and  enters. 

After  330  :  Exeunt.  —  The  Two  Brothers  enter. 

After  489:  He  hallos:  the  Guardian  Daemon  hallos  again 
and  enters  in  the  habit  of  a  shepherd. 


NOTES  189 

After  658.  The  present  reading  is  the  same  as  in  the  Cam- 
bridge Mss.,  with  the  exception  that  Soft  music  is  omitted  from 
first  sentence  ;  and  the  second  reads  :  Comus  is  discovered  with 
his  rabble,  and  The  Lady  set  in  an  enchanted  chair:  she  offers 
to  rise. 

After  813  :  The  Brothers  rush  in,  strike  his  glass  down;  the 
Shapes  make  as  though  they  would  resist,  but  are  all  driven  in. 
Daemon  enters  with  them. 

After  866,  where  there  is  no  stage-direction  now,  we  have  : 
To  be  said,  and  after  937  there  is,  Song  ends. 

After  957  :  Exeunt.  —  The  Scene  changes,  and  then  is  pre- 
sented Ludlow  town,  and  the  President's  Castle;  then  enter 
Country  Dances  and  such  like  gambols,  etc.  At  these  sports 
the  Daemon,  with  the  Two  Brothers  and  The  Lady  enter.  The 
Daemon  sings. 

After  965,  we  have  merely,  2  Song. 

TEXTUAL 

• 

The  following  readings  are  found  in  the  Cambridge  Mss.  : 
After  4,  the  Cambridge  draft  has,  crossed  out : 

"  Amidst  the  Hesperian  gardens,  on  whose  banks, 
Bedewed  with  nectar  and  celestial  songs, 
Eternal  roses  grow,  and  hyacinths, 
And  fruits  of  golden  rind,  on  whose  fair  tree 
The  scaley-harnessed  dragon  ever  keeps 
His  unenchanted  eye,  around  the  verge 
And  sacred  limits  of  this  blissful  Isle 
The  jealous  Ocean,  that  old  river,  winds 
His  far-extended  arms,  till  with  steep  fall 
Half  his  waste  flood  the  wild  Atlantic  fills, 
And  half  the  slow  unfathomed  Stygian  pool. 
But  soft !  I  was  not  sent  to  court  your  wonder 
With  distant  worlds  and  strange  removed  climes. 
Yet  thence  I  come,  and  oft  from  thence  behold." 

5.    "  The  smoke  and  stir  of  this  dim  narrow  spot." 
After  7  :    "  Beyond  the  written  date  of  mortal  change." 


190  NOTES 

21.    "  The  rule  and  title  of  each  sea-girt  isle." 

28.    main,  was  "his  empire." 

58.    "  Which  therefore  she  brought  up  and  Comus  named." 

90.    "  Nearest  and  likeliest  to  give  present  aid." 

97.    Atlantic,  was  "Tartarian." 

99.    dusky,  was  "Northern." 

108.    Advice  with,  was  "  quick  Law  with  her." 

123.    hath,  was  "has." 

133.    This  line  has  two  forms  : 

(1)  "  And  makes  a  blot  of  nature." 

(2)  "  And  throws  a  blot  o'er  all  the  air." 

134-137  was : 

"  Stay  thy  polished  ebon  chair 
Wherein  thou  rid'st  with  Hecate, 
And  favour  our  close  jocondry, 
Till  all  thy  dues,"  etc. 

144.  With  a  light  and  frolic  rouiW. 

150.  charms,  was  "trains." 

151.  my  wily  trains,  was  "my  mother's  charms." 
154.  dazzling,  was  "powdered." 

164.  snares,  was  "nets." 

170.  mine,  was  "my." 

175.  granges,  was  "garners." 

181.  mazes,  was  "alleys,"  and  tangled,  was  "arched." 

190.  wain,  was  "  chair. " 

194.  To  the  soon-parting  light  and  envious  Darkness. 

195.  stole,  was  "stolne." 

208.    that  syllable  men's  names,  was  "that  lure  night- wan- 
derers. ' ' 

214.  hovering,  was  "flittering." 

215.  unblemished,  was  "unspotted." 

216.  For  this  line  there  was  : 

"  I  see  ye  visibly  ;  and,  while  I  see  ye, 
This  dusky  hollow  is  a  Paradise, 
And  Heaven  gates  o'er  my  head  :  now  I  believe." 


NOTES  191 

219.  guardian,  was  "cherub." 

231.  shell,  was  "cell." 

243.  give  resounding  grace,  was  "  hold  a  counterpoint." 

252.  it,  was  "she." 

257.  wept,  was  "would  weep." 

258.  And  chid,  was  "Chiding." 
270.  prosperous,  was  "prospering." 

279.    Near-ushering  guides,  was  "  their  ushering  hands." 

310.    the  sure  guess,  was  "  sure  steerage." 

316.  Or  shroud  within  these  limits,  was  "within  these 
shroudy  limits." 

326.   And  yet  most  pretended,  was  "  And  is  pretended  yet." 

352.  Amongst  rude  burs  and  thistles,  was  "  in  this  dead  soli- 
tude." 

355-366  was : 

"  She  leans  her  thoughtful  head,  musing  at  our  unkindness  ; 
Or,  lost  in  wild  amazement  and  affright, 
So  fares  as  did  forsaken  Proserpine, 
When  the  big  rolling  flakes  of  pitchy  clouds 
And  darkness  wound  her  in. 

1  Br.    Peace,  brother,  peace  ! 
I  do  not  think  my  sister,"  etc. 

376.   sweet  retired  solitude,  was  "  solitary  sweet  retire." 
384,  385  : 

"  Walks  in  black  vapours,  though  noon-tide  brand 
Blaze  in  the  summer  solstice." 

390.  weeds,  was  "  beads. " 

391.  His  few  books,  or  his  beads,  was  "His   books,  or  his 
hair  gown." 

403.    wild  surrounding  waste,  was  (1)   "wide  surrounding 
waste,"  and  (2)  "vast  and  hideous  wild." 
409,  410.    For  these  lines  there  was  the  following  : 

"  Secure  without  all  doubt  or  question.     No  : 
I  could  be  willing,  though  now  i'  the  dark,  to  try 
A  tough  encounter  with  the  shaggiest  ruffian 


192  NOTES 

That  lurks  by  hedge  or  lane  of  this  dead  circuit, 
To  have  her  by  my  side,  though  I  were  sure 
She  might  be  free  from  peril  where  she  is  ; 
But,  where  an  equal  poise,"  etc. 

422,  423.    For  these  lines  we  have  : 

"And  may,  on  every  needful  accident, 
Be  it  not  done  in  pride  or  wilful  tempting, 
Walk  through  huge  forests,"  etc. 

425.    rays  was  ' '  awe. ' ' 
After  429  was  the  following  : 

"And  yawning  dens,  where  glaring  monsters  house." 

432.  Some  say,  was  "Nay  more." 

434.  meagre,  was  "  wrinkled. " 

465.  lewd  and  lavish,  was  "  the  lascivious." 

471.  sepulchres,  was  "monuments." 

472.  Lingering,  was  "  Hovering." 

485.    roving  robber,  was   (1)   "curled  man  of  the  sword," 
and  (2)  "hedger." 

490.  "  Had  best  look  to  his  forehead  :  here  be  brambles." 

491.  iron,  was  "pointed." 

496.  dale,  was  "valley." 

497.  swain,  was  "  shepherd. " 

498.  Slipped  from  the  fold,  was  "  Leap't  o'er  the  pen." 
513.  ye,  was  "you." 

531.    hilly  crofts,  was  "pastured  lawns." 
555,  556 : 

"  At  last  a  soft  [still,  sweet]  and  solemn  breathing  sound 
Rose  like  the  soft  steam  of  distilled  perfumes." 

605.    monstrous  forms,  was  "monstrous  bugs." 
607-609  : 

' '  And  force  him  to  release  his  new-got  prey, 

Or  drag  him  by  the  curls  and  cleave  his  scalp 

Down  to  the  hips." 
614.   unthread,  was  "unquilt." 


NOTES  193 


627.   names,  was  "  hues. " 

636.    That  Hermes  once,  was  "  Which  Mercury." 

650.    dauntless  hardihood,  was  "sudden  violence." 

658.    "  And  good  Heaven  cast  his  best  regard  upon  us." 

661.     or  as  Daphne,  was  "  fixed  as  Daphne." 

After  678  there  was  : 

"  Poor  Lady,  thou  hast  need  of  some  refreshing." 

707.    fur,  was  "gown." 

713.    Thronging,  was  "Cramming." 

After  713  there  was  : 

"The  fields  with  cattle,  and  the  air  with  fowl." 
732-734.     For  these  there  were  five  lines  : 

"  The  sea  o'erfraught  would  heave  her  waters  up 
Above  the  stars,  and  the  unsought  diamonds 
Would  so  bestud  the  centre  with  their  star-light 
And  so  emblaze  the  forehead  of  the  deep, 
Were  they  not  taken  thence,  that  they  below." 

744.    with  languished  head,  was  "  and  fades  away." 
749.    complexions,  was  "beetle  brows." 
806.    Come,  no  more,  "  Come,  y'are  too  moral." 
807-809.    Here  we  have  only  two  lines : 

"  This  is  mere  moral  stuff,  the  very  lees 
And  settlings." 

816.   rod,  was  "art." 

821.  Some  other  means  I  have,  was  "There  is  another  way 
that." 

834.    pearled,  was  "  white,"  and  took,  was  "received." 

After  846  was:  "And  often  takes  our  cattle  with  strange 
pinches." 

851.    "  Of  pansies  and  of  bonnie  daffodils." 

853.    "  Each  clasping  charm  and  secret  holding  spell." 

860.    Art  sitting,  was  "sit'st." 

895.  That  in  the  channel  stays,  was  "That  my  rich  wheels 
inlays." 


194  NOTES 

910.    Brightest,  was  "Virtuous." 

921.    "  To  wait  on  Amphitrite  in  her  bower." 

957.   sits,  was  "  reigns. " 

962,  963 : 

"  Of  nimbler  toes,  and  courtly  guise, 
Such  as  Hermes  did  devise." 

979.    broad,  was  "plain." 
983.    There  was  first  here  : 

"  Where  grows  the  high-borne  gold  upon  his  native  tree," 

but  it  was  struck  out. 
990,  991 : 

"  About  the  myrtle  alleys  fling 
Balm  and  cassia's  fragrant  smells." 

After  995  is  the  following,  crossed  for  erasure  : 
"  Yellow,  watchet,  green,  and  blue." 

996.    Elysian,  was  "  Sabeean." 

999.    young  Adonis  oft,  was  "  many  a  cherub  soft." 

1012.    Task  is  smoothly,  was  "  message  well  is." 

1014.  green  Earth's  end,  was  "  Earth's  green  end." 

1015.  Slow,  was  (1)  "low,"  (2)  "clear." 
1023.   stoop,  was  "bow." 

1637-1638-1645 
LYCIDAS 

(In  Milton's  hand  in  the  Cambridge  MSS.) 

For  three  years  after  the  composition  of  C omits  Milton  lived 
a  quiet  life  at  Horton  with  books  and  Nature,  but  the  year  1637 
brought  him  his  first  great  grief.  His  mother,  who  had  been 
an  embodiment  of  woman  nobly  planned,  passed  away  on  the 
third  of  April.  She  was  of  sweet  and  tender  disposition,  of 
gracious  household  ways,  and  we  must  believe  that  she  had 
much  to  do  in  opening  the  mind  of  her  son  to  beautiful  thoughts. 
We  believe  he  had  her  in  mind  when  he  wrote  the  following  : 


NOTES  195 

"  Yet  when  I  approach 
Her  loveliness,  so  absolute  she  seems 
And  in  herself  complete,  so  well  to  know 
Her  own,  that  what  she  wills  to  do  or  say 
Seems  wisest,  virtuousest,  discreetest,  best. 
All  higher  knowledge  in  her  presence  falls 
Degraded  ;  Wisdom  in  discourse  with  her 
Loses  discountenanced,  and  like  Folly  shows  ; 
Authority  and  Reason  on  her  wait, 
As  one  intended  first,  not  after  made 
Occasionally  ;  and  to  consummate  all, 
Greatness  of  mind  and  nobleness  their  seats 
Build  in  her  loveliest,  and  create  an  army 
About  her,  as  a  guard  angelic,  placed." 

Paradise  Lost,  viii.  546-559. 

She  was  buried  in  the  Parish  Church  of  Horton.  On  the  plain 
slab  in  the  floor  of  the  chancel  may  be  read —  "  Heare  lyeth  the 
Body  of  Sara  Milton,  the  wife  of  John  Milton,  icho  died  the  3rd 
of  April,  1637." 

It  is  worth  while  here  to  refer  to  those  other  noble  tributes  to 
mothers  in  the  works  of  Wordsworth  and  Tennyson  : 

"  Early  died  my  honoured  mother,  she  who  was  the  heart 
And  hinge  of  all  our  learnings  and  our  lives  : 

She,  not  falsely  taught, 

Fetching  her  goodness  rather  from  times  past, 
Than  shaping  novelties  for  times  to  come, 
Had  no  presumption,  no  such  jealousy, 
Nor  did  by  habit  of  her  thoughts  mistrust 
Our  nature,  but  had  virtual  faith  that  He 
Who  fills  the  mother's  breast  with  innocent  milk, 
Doth  also  for  our  nobler  part  provide 
Under  His  great  correction  and  control, 
As  innocent  instincts,  and  as  innocent  food  : 


196  -  NOTES 

This  was  her  creed,  and  therefore  she  was  pure 
From  anxious  fear  of  error  or  mishap 
And  evil  overweeningly  so  called. 

Such  was  she.     Not  from  faculties"  more  strong 
Than  others  have,  but  from  the  times,  perhaps, 
And  spot  in  which  she  lived,  and  through  a  grace 
Of  modest  meekness,  simple-mindedness, 
A  heart  that  found  benignity  and  hope, 
Being  itself  benign." 

Prelude,  v. 

"  'Alone,'  I  said,  'from  earlier  than  I  know, 
Immersed  in  rich  foreshadowings  of  the  world, 
I  loved  the  woman  :  he,  that  doth  not,  lives 
A  drowning  life,  besotted  in  sweet  self, 
Or  pines  in  sad  experience  worse  than  death, 
Or  keeps  his  wing'd  affections  clipt  with  crime  : 
Yet  was  there  one  thro'  whom  I  loved  her,  one 
Not  learned,  save  in  gracious  household  ways, 
Not  perfect,  nay,  but  full  of  tender  wants, 
No  Angel,  but  a  dearer  being,  all  dipt 
In  Angel  instincts,  breathing  Paradise, 
Interpreter  between  the  Gods  and  men, 
Who  look'd  all  native  to  her  place,  and  yet 
On  tiptoe  seem'd  to  touch  upon  a  sphere 
Too  gross  to  tread,  and  all  male  minds  perforce 
Sway'd  to  her  from  their  orbits  as  they  moved, 
And  girdled  her  with  music.     Happy  he 
With  such  a  mother  !  faith  in  womankind 
Beats  with  his  blood,  and  trust  in  all  things  high 
Comes  easy  to  him,  and  tho'  he  trip  and  fall 
He  shall  not  blind  his  soul  with  clay.'  " 

The  Princess,  vii. 

Hardly  had  Milton  gathered  himself  from  the  shock  of  this 
affliction  when  he  was  called  to  face  another  in  the  death  of  his 
college  friend  Edward  King.  In  the  association  of  Milton  and 


NOTES  197 


King  we  have  an  illustration  of  those  significantly  touching 
attachments  of  man  to  man  which  have  so  often  quickened, 
the  pulse  and  chastened  the  spirit  of  English  poetry  ;  as  in  the 
case  of  Spenser  and  Sidney,  Shakespeare  and  "  W.  H.,  the  only 
begetter  of  the  Sonnets,"  Shelley  and  Keats,  Tennyson  and 
Hallam,  Arnold  and  Clough,  Wordsworth  and  Coleridge. 

King  was  one  of  the  students  of  Milton's  time  of  whom  much 
was  to  be  expected.  He  had  written  some  respectable  Latin 
verse,  and  was  appointed  to  a  Fellowship  in  Christ's  College. 
In  the  long  vacation  of  1637  he  started  on  a  visit  to  his  family 
and  friends  in  Ireland,  and  while  passing  from  Chester  to  Dub- 
lin the  vessel  struck  on  the  rocks,  and  he,  with  other  passengers, 
was  drowned.  A  volume  of  memorial  verses  was  proposed  at 
the  reassembling  of  the  College  in  October,  and  early  in  1638 
was  published  in  two  sections,  one  in  Latin  and  Greek,  and  the 
other  in  English  ;  the  title  of  the  latter  was  "  Obsequies  to  the 
Memorie  of  Mr.  Edward  King,  Anno  Dom.,  2638. ,"  In  this 
collection  Milton's  poem  stands  last. 

Among  the  Sicilian  and  Alexandrian  Greeks  there  arose  a 
form  of  poetry  which  idealized  country  life,  in  which  the  beauty 
and  freshness  of  simple  primary  affections  and  passions  were 
the  centre  of  interest.  Theocritus  the  Syracusan  was  the  most 
important  of  the  creators  of  this  poetry. 

"Nay,  but,  Galatea,  come  ! 

Come  thence,  and  having  come,  forget  henceforth, 
As  I,  (who  tarry  here)  to  seek  thy  home  ! 
And  may'st  thou  love  with  me  to  feed  the  flocks 
And  milk  them  and  to  press  the  cheese  with  me, 
Curdling  their  milk  with  rennet." 

THEOCRITUS. 

They  gave  the  name  Eclogues  (Eklogai),  Goatherd's  Tales, 
to  these  simple  productions. 

Virgil  copied  from  the  Greeks  and  gave  the  name  Bucolic  or 
Pastoral  to  his  work.  He  says  :  "  Muses  of  Sicily,  let  us  strike 
a  somewhat  loftier  strain  ...  at  length  a  new  generation  is 
descending  from  heaven."  And  again :  "  First  of  all,  my  muse 


198  NOTES 

deigned  to  disport  herself  in  the  strains  of  pastoral  Syracuse, 
and  disdained  not  to  make  her  home  in  the  woods,  goddess 
as  she  was." 

Eclogues  iv.  and  vi. 

"  Cruel  Alexis  !  have  you  no  care  for  my  songs  ?  no  pity  for 
me  ?  You  will  drive  me  to  death  at  last.  It  is  the  hour  when 
even  cattle  are  seeking  the  shade  and  its  coolness  —  the  hour 
when  even  green  lizards  are  sheltering  themselves  in  the  brakes, 
and  Thestylis  is  preparing  for  the  reapers,  as  they  come  back 
spent  with  the  vehement  heat,  her  savory  mess  of  garlic  and 
wild  thyme." 

Eclogue  ii. 

As  Virgil  copied  from  the  Greeks,  so  the  Italians  of  the 
Renaissance  imitated  Virgil,  but  added  an  element  of  moralizing 
verging  on  satire.  With  the  Renaissance  the  pastoral  entered 
England,  with  Sydney  and  Spenser  it  reached  its  finest  type  in 
the  Arcadia,  The  Shepheards  Calendar,  and  The  Faerie  Queene. 

"  Shepheards,  that  wont,  on  pipes  of  oaten  reed, 
Oft  times  to  plaine  your  loves  concealed  smart ; 
And  with  your  piteous  layes  have  learnd  to  breed 
Compassion  in  a  countrey  lasses  hart 
Hearken,  ye  gentle  shepheards,  to  my  song, 
And  place  my  dolefull  plaint  your  plaints  emong." 

Astrophel. 

Writing  to  a  friend  at  this  time,  Milton  says  :  "  What  God 
has  resolved  concerning  me  I  know  not,  but  this  I  know  at 
least  —  He  has  instilled  into  me  a  vehement  love  of  the  beauti- 
ful. .  .  .  You  ask  what  I  am  thinking  of  ?  So  may  the  Good 
Deity  help  me  ;  of  immortality  —  I  am  pluming  my  wings  and 
meditating  flight."  He  may  have  been  meditating  upon  his 
epic  when  the  death  of  his  friend  called  him  away  for  a  time. 
The  poem  is  pastoral  in  form,  with  prologue  and  epilogue,  and 
a  body  of  monody  by  a  shepherd  mourning.  That  Milton's 
feelings  tended  to  cause  him  to  violate  this  form  we  are  sure,  as 
twice  he  checks  himself  for  passing  beyond  the  limits  of  a  pastoral. 


NOTES  199 


Alluding  to  the  mingling  of  national  and  social  philosophy 
with  the  pastoral  mourning,  Mr.  Stopford  Brooke  says  :  "One 
of  its  strange  charms  is  its  solemn  undertone  rising  like  a 
religious  chant  through  the  elegiac  music.  .  .  .  the  sense  of 
Christian  religion  pervading  the  classical  imagery."  The  tone 
of  religious  earnestness,  which  is  manifest  as  a  subordinate  ele- 
ment in  the  early  poems,  becomes  primary  in  the  poems  of  the 
Horton  period.  It  is  in  the  V  Allegro  and  II  Penseroso  as  a  plea 
for  a  "reasonable  life"  ;  in  Comus  as  a  condemnation  of  the 
license  of  the  court,  and  a  hymn  in  praise  of  temperance  and 
chastity  ;  in  the  Lycidas  as  a  fierce  denunciation  of  the  cor- 
ruptions of  the  church  —  that  "  grim  wolf  with  privy  paw." 

Lowell  says:  "The  strain  heard  in  the  'Nativity  Ode,'  in 
the  'Solemn  music,'  and  in  'Lycidas'  is  of  a  higher  mood,  as 
regards  metrical  construction,  than  anything  that  had  thrilled 
the  English  ear  before,  giving  no  uncertain  augury  of  him  who 
was  to  show  what  sonorous  metal  lay  silent  till  he  touched  the 
keys  in  the  epical  organ-pipes  of  our  various  languages." 

Emerson  says:  "No  individual  writer  has  been  an  equal 
benefactor  of  the  English  language  by  showing  its  capabili- 
ties." 

1.  Yet  once  more,  etc.  Three  years  had  elapsed  since  Milton 
had  written  Comus.  He  had  written  nothing  in  the  interim. 

3-5.  I  come  to  pluck,  etc.  The  symbolism  here  evidently  is 
that  he  is  compelled  to  write  when  but  for  the  sad  event  he 
would  be  gathering  himself  for  work  which  would  merit  the 
laurel  wreath  in  due  season. 

8-9.  Lycidas  is  dead  .  .  .  young  Lycidas.  The  name  Lyci- 
das is  taken  from  classic  pastorals  by  Ovid  and  Virgil.  The 
reflection  here  is  common.  Cf .  Spenser,  Astrophel : 

"Young  Astrophel,  the  pride  of  shepheard's  praise, 
Young  Astrophel,  the  rusticke  lasses  love." 

10,  11.   he  knew,  etc.    Cf.  supra. 

15.   Begin  then.     Cf .  Spenser,  Teares  of  the  Muses : 

"  Rehearse  to  me,  ye  sacred  Sisters  nine,"  etc. 


200  NOTES 

sacred  well.  The  Pierian  Spring  at  the  foot  of  Olympus,  the 
seat  of  the  Homeric  Pantheon. 

19-22.  So  may  some  gentle  muse,  etc.  The  prayer  here 
expressed  by  Milton  that  lie  himself  would  merit  some  memorial 
has  been  generously  answered. 

23-36.  For  we  were  nursed,  etc.  A  beautiful  setting  of  their 
life  at  Cambridge. 

28.   grey-fly.     Cleg,  or  horse-fly. 

34-36.  Rough  Satyrs,  etc.  Masson  thinks  there  may  be  an 
allusion  here  to  some  of  Milton's  undergraduate  associates,  and 
that  old  Damoetus  may  refer  to  some  Fellow  or  tutor. 

40.   gadding.     Wandering,  straggling. 

46.  taint-worm.  The  name  tainct  was  once  given  to  a  small 
red  spider,  deadly  to  cattle.  (M.) 

49.  Such,  Lycidas,  thy  loss  to  shepherd's  ear.  Cf.  Mids. 
N.  Dream,  i.  1 : 

"More  tuneable  than  lark  to  shepherd's  ear, 
When  wheat  is  green,  when  hawthorn  buds  appear." 

50-55.   Where  were  ye,  etc.     Cf.  Virgil,  Eclogue  x. : 

"  What  forests,  what  lawns  were  your  abode,  virgin  nymphs 
of  the  fountains,  when  Gallus  was  wasting  under  an  unworthy 
passion  ?  What,  indeed  ?  for  it  was  not  any  spot  in  the  ridges 
of  Parnassus  or  of  Pindus  that  kept  you  there  ;  no,  nor  Aonian 
Aganippe." 

Virgil  imitated  the  first  idyl  of  Theocritus,  but  Masson 
agrees  with  Keightley  that  Milton  excels  Virgil  in  imitation. 

52.  The  steep,  etc.  This  is  an  allusion  to  some  particular 
mountain  in  Wales. 

54.  Mona.     The  fastness  of  the  Druids  in  Anglesey. 

55.  Deva.     The  Dee.    The  old  boundary  between  England 
and  Wales.     Cf.  Faerie  Queeue,  I.  ix.  4: 

"  From  whence  the  river  Dee,  as  silver  cleene, 
His  tombling  billowes  rolls  with  gentle  rore." 

Chester,  the  port  from  which  King  sailed,  is  on  the  Dee. 
68-63.  What  could  the  Muse,  etc.     Orpheus,  the  son  of  Cal- 


NOTES  201 

Hope,  because  he  continued  to  grieve  for  Eurydice  (cf.  note 
L"1 Allegro,  145),  was  torn  to  pieces  by  the  offended  Thracian 
women  in  their  Bacchanalian  orgies.  The  Muses  buried  frag- 
ments of  the  body  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Olympus,  but  his  head 
was  thrown  into  the  river  Hebrus,  which  carried  it  to  the 
island  of  Lesbos,  where  it  was  buried.  Cf .  Paradise  Lost,  vii. 
32-39  : 

u  But  drive  far  off  the  barbarous  dissonance 
Of  Bacchus,  and  his  revellers,  the  race 
Of  that  wild  rout  that  tore  the  Thracian  bard 
In  Rhodope,  where  woods  and  rocks  had  ears 
To  rapture,  till  the  savage  clamour  drown' d 
Both  harp  and  voice  ;  nor  could  the  Muse 
Defend  her  son." 

67-69.  Were  it  not  better,  etc.  To  lead  a  life  of  ease  and 
pleasure.  Amaryllis  and  Necera  are  names  of  shepherds'  sweet- 
hearts in  the  old  pastorals. 

70.   clear.     Aspiring. 

75.   blind  Fury.     Atropos. 

77.  touched  my  trembling  ears.  The  idea  here  seems  to  be 
that  Milton  was  over-anxious  for  fame.  Cf.  Virgil,  Eclogue  vi. 
' '  Cum  canerem  reges  et  proelia,  Cynthius  aurem  vellit,  et 
admonuit,"  which  Conington  translates,  "When  I  was  ventur- 
ing to  sing  of  kings  and  battles,  the  Cynthian  god  touched  my 
ear  and  appealed  to  my  memory."  Here  touching  the  ear  is 
symbolic  of  quickening  the  memory. 

79.  glistering  foil.  Temporary  reputation,  which  might  like 
the  shining  tinsel  wrap  a  very  cheap  article. 

81,  82.  But  lives,  etc.  Compare  this  alliance  of  Heaven  with 
true  fame,  with  the  idea  in  the  last  two  lines  of  Comus. 

85,  86.  0  fountain  Arethuse.  The  nymph  of  the  fountain  of 
Arethusa  in  Sicily  was  the  Muse  of  pastoral  poetry  as  revealed 
in  Theocritus  :  Mincius  was  a  river  of  Italy  near  which  Virgil, 
the  type  of  Latin  pastoral  poet,  was  born.  Cf.  Virgil,  Eclogue 
vii.  : 

u  Mincius  fringing  his  green  banks  with  a  border  of  vocal  reeds." 


202  NOTES 

87,  88.  That  strain,  etc.  The  words  of  Apollo  were  more 
profound  than  the  simple  pastoral. 

89,  90.  the  Herald  of  the  sea,  etc.  In  the  judicial  inquiry 
in  regard  to  the  death  of  Lycidas  Triton  canie  as  representative 
of  Neptune. 

93.    rugged.     Ragged.     Cf.  L1  Allegro,  9. 

96.  Hippotades.  JEolus,  the  god  of  the  winds,  was  son  of 
Hippotes. 

99.   Panope.     One  of  the  Nereids. 

101.   Built  in  the  eclipse.     Cf.  Macbeth,  iv.  1  : 

"Slips  of  yew 
Slivered  in  the  moon's  eclipse  " 

are  one  of  the  ingredients  of  the  witches'  hell-broth. 

103-107.  Next,  Camus,  etc.  The  genius  of  the  river  Cam 
and  of  Cambridge  University.  Masson  gives  the  note  in 
Plumptre's  Greek  translation  of  Comus  in  explanation  of  the 
garb  of  Camus  : 

"  The  mantle  is  as  if  made  of  the  plant  '  river  spruce '  which 
floats  copiously  on  the  Cam  :  the  bonnet  of  the  river-sedge,  dis- 
tinguished by  vague  marks  traced  somehow  over  the  middle  of 
the  leaves  and  serrated  at  the  edge  of  the  leaves,  after  the 
fashion  of  the  A?,  At  of  the  hyacinth. ' '  The  hyacinth  was  the 
flower  in  whose  petals  the  Greeks  saw  the  At',  at.  Alas  !  Alas  ! 

Inwrought.     In  the  Ms.  this  is  "scrawled  o'er." 

107.  pledge.  Hope,  an  allusion  to  the  expectation  of  what 
King  would  have  done  had  he  lived.  Cf.  In  Memoriam,  LXXII.  : 

"  The  fame  is  quench'd  that  I  foresaw, 

The  head  hath  miss'd  an  earthly  wreath,"  etc. 

108-131.  Last  came,  etc.  Cf.  Matthew  iv.  18-20.  The 
reader  should  consult  lluskin's  comment  on  this  passage  in 
"King's  Treasures"  (Sesame  and  Lilies').  Masson  says,  "St. 
Peter,  here  called  by  name  suggesting  his  original  occupation  as 
fisherman  and  with  occult  reference  to  the  fact  that  Lycidas 
had  perished  at  sea."  The  tradition  of  the  Church  as  to  the 
office  of  St.  Peter  is  symbolized  by  the  possession  of  the  two 


NOTES  203 

keys,  one  for  opening  and  the  other  for  shutting.  "Though 
not  a  lover  of  false  bishops,  Milton  was  a  lover  of  true  ones." — 
RUSKIN.  "  And  were  the  punishment  and  misery  of  being  a 
prelate-bishop  terminated  only  in  the  person,  and  did  not  ex- 
tend to  the  affliction  of  the  whole  diocese,  if  I  would  wish  any- 
thing in  the  bitterness  of  soul  to  mine  enemy,  I  would  wish  him 
the  biggest  and  fattest  bishopric."  — Apology  for  Smectymnuus. 

112.  mitred  locks.     Milton  here  allows  St.  Peter  to  speak 
with  episcopal  authority.     "The  Lake-Pilot  is  here  in  Mil- 
ton's thoughts  the  type  and  head  of  true  episcopal  power."  — 
RUSKIN. 

113.  How  well  could  I  have  spared,  etc.     This  passage  con- 
cluding in  line  129  is  in  many  respects  the  most  significant  in 
the  poem.     A  more  graphic  picture  of  the  incapacity  of  the 
hireling  church  can  hardly  be  conceived.     It  reveals  how  surely 
though  quietly  the  bow  was  being  strung  which  only  the  sinews 
of  Ulysses  could  draw,  and  which  would  send  the  arrow  to 
the  mark  when  the  time  came.      We  wonder  how  it  could 
have  escaped  the  condemnation  of  those  against  whom  it  was 
directed.      Emerson  says  :  "  Questions  that  involve  all  social 
and  personal  rights  were  hasting  to  be  decided  by  the  sword, 
and  were  searched  by  eyes  to  which  the  love  of  freedom,  civil 
and  religious,  lent  new  illumination." 

115.  Creep,  and  intrude,  and  climb.  Ruskin  says  :  "Do  not 
think  Milton  uses  these  three  words  to  fill  up  his  verse.  He 
needs  all  the  three  ;  specially  those  three,  and  no  more  than 
those.  —  'Creep,'  and  'intrude,'  and  '  climb,'  no  other 
words  would  or  could  serve  the  turn,  and  no  more  could  be 
added."  There  are  three  classes  here:  First,  the  cunning; 
second,  the  insolently  bold  ;  and  third,  those  who  are  ambitious 
to  gain  high  dignities. 

119.  Blind  mouths.  "Those  two  monosyllables  express  the 
precisely  accurate  contraries  of  right  character ;  in  the  two 
great  offices  of  the  Church — those  of  bishop  and  pastor.  A 
Bishop  means  one  who  sees.  A  Pastor  means  one  who  feeds. 
The  most  unbishoply  character  a  man  can  have  is  therefore  to 
be  Blind.  The  most  unpastoral  is,  instead  of  feeding,  to  want 


204  NOTES 

to  be  fed  —  to   be  a  Mouth."  —  RUSKIN.     Cf.    Wordsworth, 
Prelude,  i.  210,  211  : 

"ballad  tunes 
Food  for  the  hungry  ears  of  little  ones." 

124.  scrannel.     Screeching.     Coined  by  Milton.     (M.) 

125.  The  hungry  sheep  look  up,  etc.     Cf.  Spenser,  Shep- 
heard's  Calendar  (Maye): 

Piers.  "  Those  faytours  little  regarden  their  charge, 

While  they  letting  their  sheepe  runne  at  large, 

Passen  their  time  that  should  be  sparely  spent, 

In  lustihede  and  wanton  meryment. 

Thilke  same  bene  shepeheardes  for  the  Devil's  stedde, 

That  play  en  while  their  flockes  be  unfedde." 

Cf.  Ben  Jonson,  Paw's  Anniversary : 

Shep.  "Now  each  return  unto  his  charge, 

And  though  today  you've  lived  at  large, 
And  well  your  flocks  have  fed  their  fill, 
Yet  do  not  trust  your  hireling  still. 
See  yond'  they  go,  and  timely  do 
The  office  you  have  put  them  to ; 
But  if  you  often  give  this  leave, 
Your  sheep  and  you  they  will  deceive." 

Cowper  must  have  had  these  lines  in  mind  when  he  wrote  : 

"  When  nations  are  to  perish  in  their  sins, 
'Tis  in  the  church  the  leprosy  begins  ; 
The  priest,  whose  office  is,  with  zeal  sincere, 
To  watch  the  fountain  and  preserve  it  clear, 
Carelessly  nods  and  sleeps  upon  the  brink, 
While  others  poison  what  the  flock  must  drink." 

Expostulation. 

126.  wind  and  rank  mist.     Unsubstantial  and  unwholesome 
doctrines.      "This  is  to  meet  the  vulgar  answer  that  'if  the 


NOTES  205 

poor  are  not  looked  after  in  their  bodies,  they  are  in  their  souls ; 
they  have  spiritual  food.'  "  — RUSKIN. 

128.  grim  wolf.  The  Church  of  Rome  was  growing  by  the 
converts  it  made  and  there  was  little  opposition. 

130.  that  two-handed  engine.  This  passage  has  puzzled 
the  critics.  Some  think  it  refers  to  the  axe  to  be  laid  at  the 
root  of  the  trees,  or  the  sword  which  Michael  the  Archangel 
"brandished  with  huge  two-handed  sway"  in  the  war  in 
Heaven,  while  others  think  it  alludes  to  the  sword  of  the 
Apocalypse.  It  evidently  has  a  Biblical  origin.  Masson 
thinks  it  may  mean  the  Two  Houses  of  Parliament,  from  the 
fact  that  not  for  eight  years  had  Charles  summoned  a  Parlia- 
ment. When  we  consider  what  an  "engine"  the  Parlia- 
ment of  1640  was,  we  may  not  consider  this  interpretation 
far-fetched. 

132.  Return,  Alpheus,  etc.  After  the  digression  the  pastoral 
note  is  resumed  by  calling  upon  the  lover  of  Arethusa.  Cf. 
line  85. 

136.   use.     Stay. 

138.    swart  star.     The  malignant  Dog-star  Sirius. 

sparely.     Rarely. 

142-151.  Bring  the  rathe  primrose,  etc.  Ruskin  in  Modern 
Painters,  Vol.  II.  "Of  Imagination  Penetrative,"  page  168,  has 
a  somewhat  singular  comment  on  the  first  seven  lines  of  this 
beautiful  passage.  It  seems  to  contradict  the  teaching  of  Vol. 
I.  He  says :  "  Compare  Milton's  flowers  in  Lycidas  with 
Perdita's.  In  Milton  it  happens,  I  think  generally,  and  in  the 
case  before  us  most  certainly,  that  the  imagination  is  mixed 
and  broken  with  fancy,  and  so  the  strength  of  the  imagery  is 
part  of  iron  and  part  of  clay."  He  then  marks  the  lines  as 
follows  : 

142.  (Imagination.) 

143.  (Nugatory.)     Unimaginative. 

144.  (Fancy.) 

145.  (Imagination. ) 

146.  (Fancy,  vulgar.) 

147.  (Imagination.) 


148.    (Mixed.) 

u  Then  hear  Perdita  : 

'  0,  Proserpina, 

For  the  flowers  now,  that  frighted  thou  let'st  fall 
From  Dis's  wagon.     Daffodils 
That  come  before  the  swallow  dares,  and  take 
The  winds  of  March  with  beauty.     Violets  dim, 
But  sweeter  than  the  lids  of  Juno's  eyes 
Or  Cytherea's  breath  ;  pale  primroses 
That  die  unmarried,  ere  they  can  behold 
Bright  Phoabus  in  his  strength,  a  malady 
Most  incident  in  maids.'  "  —  Winter's  Tale. 

Observe  how  the  imagination  in  these  last  lines  goes  into  the 
very  inmost  soul  of  the  flower  .  .  .  and  never  stops  on  their 
spots,  or  their  bodily  shape,  while  Milton  sticks  in  the  stains 
upon  them  and  puts  us  off  with  that  unhappy  freak  of  jet  in 
the  very  flower  that  without  this  bit  of  paper-staining  would 
have  been  the  most  precious  to  us  of  all." 
Cf.  Spenser,  Shepherd's  Calendar  (April)  : 

"  Bring  hither  the  pincke  and  purple  cullainbine, 

With  gelliflowres ; 
Bring  coronations,  and  sops-in-wine, 

Worn  of  paramoures  : 

Strowe  me  the  ground  with  daffadowndillies, 
And  cowslips,  and  kingcups,  and  loved  lillies  ; 

The  pretie  pawnee, 

And  the  chevisaunce, 
Shall  match  with  the  fayre  flower-delice. " 

Cf.  Keats,  Endymion,  book  ii.  412-418  : 

"  the  ivy  mesh, 

Shading  its  Ethiop  berries  ;  and  the  woodbine, 
Of  velvet  leaves  and  bugle-blooms  divine  ; 
Convolvulus  in  streaked  vases  flush  ; 
The  creeper,  mellowing  for  an  autumn  blush  ; 
And  virgins  bower,  trailing  airily  ; 
With  others  of  the  sisterhood." 


Cf.  Tennyson,  In  Memoriam,  LXXXIII  : 

"  Bring  orchis,  bring  the  fox-glove  spire, 
The  little  speedwell's  darling  blue, 
Deep  tulips  dash'd  with  fiery  dew, 
Laburnums,  dropping-wells  of  fire." 

142.  rathe.     Early.     Our  word  rather  is  the  comparative  of 
this  adjective. 

143.  crow-toe.     Crowfoot  violet. 

151.   laureate  hearse.     Laurelled  tomb. 

153.  dally  with  false  surmise.  Think  that  the  body  is  en- 
tombed, though  really  it  is  washed  about  by  the  sea. 

156-162.  beyond  the  stormy  Hebrides,  etc.  King  was  ship- 
wrecked on  the  Irish  coast.  Milton  sketches  the  wanderings  of 
the  body  to  the  Scottish  coast  —  to  Land's  End,  Cornwall  —  the 
fabled  abode  of  Bellerus,  where  the  "guarded  mount,"  St. 
Michael's,  looks  toward  Cape  Finistere  and  the  castle  (hold)  of 
Bayona  on  the  south. 

163.  Look  homeward.     Here  Michael,  who  has  been  looking 
toward  Naumancos  and  Bayona's  hold,  is  asked  to  direct  his  gaze 
toward  England. 

164.  ye  dolphins,  etc.     An  allusion  to  the  rescuing  of  Arion, 
whom  the  sailors  had  thrown  overboard. 

165-181.  Weep  no  more,  etc.  Compare  these  lines  with  198- 
219  of  Epitapliium  Damonis,  pp.  256,  257. 

169.  repairs.     Raises  again. 

170.  new-spangled  ore.     Renewed  golden  splendor. 

173.  Through  the  dear  might  of  Him,  etc.  Note  the  appo- 
siteness  to  the  whole  subject  of  the  poem  in  this  reference  to 
Christ's  power  over  the  waves.  (M.) 

176.   unexpressive.     Inexpressibly  sweet,     (M.) 

181.   And  wipe  the  tears,  etc.     Cf.  Rev.  vii.  17,  xxi.  4. 

183.  thou  art  the  Genius,  etc.  Cf.  Epitaphium  Damonis, 
207-211. 

186.  uncouth.  Unknown,  rather  than  rude,  seems  to  be  the 
idea  here. 


208  NOTES 

188.  stops   of    various    quills.      Alluding  to  the   changing 
moods  of  the  poem. 

189.  Doric.     The  Greek  pastoral  poets  used  the  Doric  dialect. 

TEXTUAL 

The  following  were  the  readings  of  the  Cambridge  Mss.  : 
10.    he  knew,  was  "  he  well  knew." 
22.    And  bid,  was  "  To  bid." 
26.    opening,  was  "glimmering." 

30.  star  that  rose  at  evening  bright,  was  "  even-star  bright." 

31.  westering,  was  "  burnished. " 
47.    wardrobe,  was  "buttons." 
58-63.    These  lines  were  : 

"  What  could  the  golden-haired  Calliope 
For  her  enchanting  son, 
When  she  beheld  (the  gods  far-sighted  be) 
His  gory  scalp  roll  down  the  Thracian  lea  ?  " 

In  the  margin  after  "enchanting  son"  these  lines  were  substi- 
tuted for  the  two  lines  that  follow  : 

"  Whom  universal  Nature  might  lament, 
And  Heaven  and  Hell  deplore, 
When  his  divine  head  down  the  stream  was  sent, 
Down  the  swift  Hebrus  to  the  Lesbian  shore." 

69.    Or  with,  was  "  Hid  in." 

85.  honoured,  was  "smooth." 

86.  smooth-sliding,  was  "soft-sliding." 

105.    Inwrought,  was  "Scrawled  o'er,"  with  "Inwrought" 
in  margin. 

129.    nothing,  was  "little." 

138.  sparely,  was  "stintly,"   though  "sparely"  had  been 
first  written. 

139.  Throw,  was  "Bring." 

142-151.    For  these  lines  there  were  the  following  : 

"  Bring  the  rathe  primrose  that  unwedded  dies, 
Colouring  the  pale  cheek  of  unen joyed  love 


NOTES  209 

And  that  sad  flower  that  strove 

To  write  his  own  woes  on  the  vermeil  grain  : 

Next  add  Narcissus  that  still  weeps  in  vain, 

The  woodbine,  and  the  pansy  freakt  with  jet, 

The  glowing  violet, 

The  cowslip  wan  that  hangs  his  pensive  head, 

And  every  bud  that  Sorrow's  livery  wears  ; 

Let  daffadillies  fill  their  cups  with  tears  ; 

Bid  amaranthus  all  his  beauty  shed, 

To  strew,"  etc. 

"  Sorrow's  livery  "  is  changed  into  "  sad  escutcheon,"  and  that 
into  the  present  reading. 

153.  frail,  was  "sad." 

154.  shores,  was  "  floods. " 
160.    Bellerus,  was  "  Corineus. " 

176.    And  hears,  was  "  Listening. "     (T.) 

1642-1645 
WHEN  THE  ASSAULT  WAS  INTENDED  TO  THE  CITY 

(Copy  in  the  hand  of  an  amanuensis,  but  title  in  Milton's  own  hand 
in  the  Cambridge  MSS.) 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  breach  between  Royalist  and 
Puritan  was  daily  becoming  wider,  Milton  having  gained  the 
approval  of  his  father  prepared  to  carry  out  a  long-cherished 
plan  of  visiting  Italy.  His  passport  was  furnished  by  Sir  Henry 
Wotton,  Provost  of  Eton,  and  early  in  May  he  crossed  the 
Channel,  "to  fresh  woods  and  pastures  new."  "A  more  im- 
pressive Englishman  never  left  our  shores,"  says  Augustine 
Birrell.  "  Sir  Philip  Sidney  perhaps  approaches  him  nearest. 
Beautiful  beyond  praise,  and  just  sufficiently  conscious  of  it  to 
be  careful  not  to  appear  at  a  disadvantage  —  a  gentleman,  a 
scholar,  a  poet,  a  musician,  and  a  Christian."  In  Paris  he  was 
presented  to  the  English  Ambassador  of  Charles,  and  by  him 
was  introduced  to  "that  most  learned  man,"  Hugo  Grotius, 
Ambassador  from  the  Queen  of  Sweden.  He  remained  in  Paris 
but  a  short  time,  for  his  dreams  of  classic  Italy  lured  him  on. 


210  NOTES 

In  August  we  find  him  in  Florence.  Here  he  was  received  with 
the  .kindest  hospitality  by  many  of  the  young  men  in  the  fa- 
mous literary  circles,  and  was  praised  with  a  true  Italian  fervor. 
He  met  the  famous  Galileo  —  old,  feeble,  and  blind  —  at  his 
villa  in  Arcetri.  This  was  the  most  impressive  of  all  his  expe- 
riences in  Italy.  From  Florence  he  went  to  Rome,  where  he 
refreshed  his  memory  of  Horace,  Livy,  and  Virgil  by  visiting 
places  associated  with  their  life  and  work.  He  heard  Leonora 
Baroni,  the  first  singer  of  the  world  at  that  time,  and  expressed 
his  enthusiasm  for  her  art  in  Latin  epigrams.  In  five  sonnets 
written  in  Italian  we  have  another  illustration  of  Milton's  wor- 
ship at  the  shrine  of  Italian  beauty.  He  was  captivated  by  the 
"magnetic  movements  and  love-darting  dark  brow"  of  some 
daughter  of  this  land  of  art  and  beauty.  What  a  lover  he  was 
is  splendidly  illustrated  in  the  sonnet  which  Masson  has  trans- 
lated : 

"  Young,  gentlenatured,  and  a  simple  wooer, 

Since  in  myself  I  stand  in  doubt  to  fly, 

Lady,  to  thee  my  heart's  poor  gift  would  I 

Offer  devoutly  ;  and  by  tokens  sure 
I  know  it  faithful,  fearless,  constant,  pure, 

In  its  conceptions  graceful,  good,  and  high. 

When  the  world  roars  and  flames  the  startled  sky  ; 

In  its  own  adamant  it  rests  secure  ; 
As  free  from  chance  and  malice  ever  found, 

And  fears  and  hopes  that  vulgar  minds  confuse, 

As  it  is  loyal  to  each  manly  thing 
And  to  the  sounding  lyre  and  to  the  muse, 

Only  in  that  part  is  it  not  so  sound 

Where  Love  hath  set  in  it  his  cureless  sting." 

He  writes  to  his  friend  Diodati  and  confides  in  him  the  secret 
of  the  passionate  love.  On  returning  home  he  learned  at 
Geneva  that  soon  after  he  left  England  Diodati  had  died.  This 
sadness,  together  with  the  feeling  that  it  was  unpatriotic  for 
him  to  be  in  pleasure  when  his  friends  at  home  were  struggling 
for  freedom,  hurried  him  to  England.  He  revealed  his  sense  of 


NOTES  211 


loss  at  the  death  of  his  friend  in  a  Latin  elegy,  Eptiaphium 
Damonis. 

Mr.  Richard  Garnett  says:  "Four  times  has  a  great  English 
poet  taken  up  his  abode  in  'the  paradise  of  exiles,'  and  re- 
mained there  until  deeply  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  the  land. 
The  Italian  residence  of  Byron  and  Shelley,  of  Landor  and 
Browning,  has  infused  into  English  literature,  a  new  element 
which  has  mingled  with  its  inmost  essence." 

On  returning  to  England  in  August,  1639,  Milton  did  not 
take  active  part  in  the  controversies  of  the  time,  but  settled  in 
studious  life.  After  a  short  visit  to  Horton  he  took  lodgings  in 
St.  Bride's,  Fleet  Street.  He  soon  found  these  too  small,  and 
the  next  year  he  removed  to  Aldersgate  Street,  outside  the  city 
walls,  near  Islington,  a  quiet  and  restful  quarter.  Here  he 
planned  a  poem  which  should  be  a  monument  to  the  English 
language  —  the  first  attempts  at  Paradise  Lost.  Here,  too,  he 
became  tutor  to  his  nephews  and  a  few  other  boys.  What  his 
ideas  of  education  were  may  be  found  in  his  Tractate  on  Edu- 
cation, written  in  1644.  In  it  occurs  his  famous  definition  :  "  I 
call  therefore  a  complete  and  generous  education  that  which 
fits  a  man  to  perform  justly,  skilfully,  and  magnanimously  all 
offices,  both  private  and  public,  of  peace  and  war." 

In  1641  he  began  a  series  of  pamphlets  on  social  and  political 
questions,  the  first  of  which  was  Of  Reformation  Touching 
Church  Discipline  in  England. 

The  Civil  War  had  begun,  and  Milton  decided  that  he  could 
be  of  more  assistance  to  the  Parliamentarians  with  the  pen  than 
in  other  ways.  The  battle  at  Edgehill  had  been  fought  Octo- 
ber 23,  1642,  and  the  Cavaliers  were  advancing  toward  London. 
All  was  confusion  and  excitement  in  the  city  when  news  came 
that  the  enemy  had  been  checked  at  Brentford.  Milton  had 
reason  to  think  the  Cavaliers  would  seek  him  out,  and  half  in 
jest,  half  in  earnest,  he  wrote  this  sonnet  to  the  commander. 
The  title  given  in  the  Cambridge  Mss.  is  significant :  "  On  his 
dore  when  ye  citty  expected  an  assault."  This  was  afterwards 
changed  by  Milton  himself  to  the  present  title. 

Masson  finds  "  a  mood  of  jest  or  semi-jest  in  the  whole  affair," 


212  NOTES 

but  Lowell  prefers  to  see  in  it  evidence  of  Milton's  quiet  assump- 
tion of  equality  with  Pindar  and  Euripides,  whose  memory,  by 
the  chance  singing  of  the  chorus  of  Euripides,  secured  immu- 
nity for  other  walls. 

Mr.  Richard  Garnett  says:  "It  should  seem  that  if  Milton 
detested  the  enemy's  principles,  he  respected  his  pikes  and 
guns.  If  this  strain  seems  deficient  in  the  fierceness  befitting  a 
besieged  patriot,  let  it  be  remembered  that  Milton's  doors  were 
literally  defenceless,  being  outside  the  rampart  of  the  city." 

Mr.  Henry  Van  Dyke  in  comparing  Milton  and  Tennyson 
says  :  "  To  Milton  came  the  outward  conflict ;  to  Tennyson  the 
inward  grief.  And  as  we  follow  them  beyond  the  charmed 
circle  of  their  early  years,  we  must  trace  the  parallel  between 
them,  if  indeed  we  can  find  it  at  all,  far  below  the  surface  ; 
although  even  yet  we  shall  see  some  external  resemblances 
amid  many  and  strong  contrasts." 

1.  Colonel.  A  trisyllable.  The  word  was  formerly  coronel, 
Captain  coronel,  chief  captain.  Cf.  Spenser,  State  of  Ireland, 
"their  Coronell,  named  Don  Sebastian." 

3.  In  edition  of  1645  this  was :  "  If  ever  deed  of  honour  did 
thee  please."  (M.) 

5.    charms.     Magic  verses. 

10.  Emathian  conqueror.     Alexander  the  Great,  so  called 
from  Einathia,  a  part  of  Macedonia. 

11.  house  of  Pindarus.     When  Alexander  sacked  Thebes  he 
spared  the  house  of  the  poet  Pindar. 

12.  repeated  air.     Lysander  when  he  was  about  to  destroy 
Athens  was  deterred  by  the  chance  singing  of  the  chorus  of 
Euripides. 

1644-1645 

To  A  VIRTUOUS  YOUNG  LADY 

(In  Milton's  own  hand  in  the  Cambridge  MSS.) 

In  the  summer  of  1643  Milton  made   a  journey  into  the 

country,  and  after  a  month  returned  with  a  wife.     The  event 

was  attended  with  appropriate  entertainment  in  the  home  in 

Aldersgate  Street.     The  bride  was  Mary  Powell  of  Forest  Hill, 

which  was  within  the  forest  of  Shotover,  in  which  Milton's 


NOTES  213 


grandfather  had  been  under-ranger.  It  seems  that  the  Powells 
and  the  Miltons  had  been  together  in  business  transactions,  the 
estate  at  Forest  Hill  being  mortgaged  to  the  scrivener. 

It  soon  became  evident  that  the  marriage  was  an  ill-considered 
one,  for  the  Powells  were  Royalists.  The  bride,  used  to  the 
gaieties  of  Cavalier  society,  soon  tired  of  the  sober  life  with  the 
Roundhead  schoolmaster  in  London.  The  two  became  mutually 
repugnant  to  each  other,  as  was  natural  in  such  a  union  of 
frivolity  with  thoughtfulness.  We  are  not  called  upon  to  fix 
the  responsibility  here,  but  we  are  not  to  forget  that  with  all  his 
love  of  a  studious  life  Milton  had  no  little  susceptibility  to  the 
charm  of  feminine  beauty.  A  month  after  the  marriage  the 
wife  begged  permission  to  visit  her  old  home.  She  went  to 
Forest  Hill  in  July,  and  as  she  showed  no  disposition  to  return 
to  Aldersgate  Street,  Milton  at  first  wrote,  but  getting  no  reply, 
despatched  a  messenger,  who  returned,  "  having  been  dismissed 
with  some  sort  of  contempt."  The  result  of  this  act  on  the 
part  of  the  wife  was  to  turn  Milton's  attention  to  the  institution 
of  marriage,  and  he  published  anonymously  the  pamphlet  The 
Doctrine  and  Discipline  of  Divorce.  Emerson  says:  "It  is  to 
be  regarded  as  a  poem  on  one  of  the  griefs  of  man's  condition, 
unfit  marriage.  It  should  receive  that  charity  which  an  angelic 
soul  suffering  more  keenly  than  others  from  the  unavoidable 
evils  of  human  life  is  entitled  to."  In  this  he  makes  110  mention 
of  his  personal  case,  but  considers  the  principle  as  it  were  in 
the  abstract.  Pattison  says  :  "  His  argument  throughout  glows 
with  a  white  heat  of  concealed  emotion."  The  stir  occasioned 
by  this  pamphlet  was  widespread  ;  the  Church  party  was  glad 
that  such  a  scandal  had  arisen  in  the  Presbyterian  family,  and 
Milton  went  out  from  his  own  fold.  Here  is  the  beginning 
of  the  party  known  as  Independents.  Milton  now  reedited  the 
pamphlet  on  Divorce,  to  which  he  signed  his  name,  although  it 
contained  a  daring  address  to  Parliament. 

With  this  trying  period  in  Milton's  career  is  the  sonnet  To  a 
Lady  connected,  if  we  accept  the  statements  of  Phillips,  Mil- 
ton's nephew.  The  date  of  composition  of  this  sonnet  leads  us 
naturally  enough  to  the  belief  that  Milton  found  consolation 


214  NOTES 

in  the  society  of  some  noble' women.  The  subject  of  the  poem  is, 
according  to  Phillips,  a  Miss  Davis,  "  a  very  handsome  and  witty 
gentlewoman." 

5.  with  Mary  and  with  Ruth.  Cf.  Luke  x.  47,  and  Ruth 
i.  14. 

7.    growing.     The  first  reading  of  the  MS.  was  "  blooming." 

11.  hope  that  reaps  not  shame.     Cf.  Romans  v.  5. 

12.  when  the  Bridegroom,  etc.     Cf.  Matthew  xxv.  1. 

13.  Passes  to  bliss.     Heading  of  first  Ms.  was:  "Opens  the 
door  of  bliss  that  hour  of  night. ' ' 

14.  Virgin  wise  and  pure.     Cf.  next  sonnet,  last  lines. 

1644-1645 
To  THE  LADY  MARGARET  LEY 

(In  Milton's  own  hand  in  the  Cambridge  MSS.) 

This  sonnet  belongs  to  the  same  period  as  the  preceding  and 
is  equally  rich  in  biographical  and  political  interest.  The  lady 
here  honored  is  another  of  those  at  whose  home  Milton  was  a  wel- 
come guest.  She  was  the  daughter  of  James  Ley,  first  Earl  of 
Maiiborough.  She  married  a  Captain  Hobson,  who  was  a  fol- 
lower of  the  Parliamentarians.  Phillips  says:  "Milton  made 
it  his  chief  diversion  now  and  then  of  an  evening  to  visit  the 
Lady  Margaret  Ley,  a  woman  of  great  wit  and  ingenuity,  who 
had  a  particular  honor  for  him,  and  took  much  delight  in  his 
company,  as  likewise  Captain  Hobson,  her  husband,  a  very 
accomplished  gentleman." 

This  was  the  last  sonnet  in  the  first  edition  of  his  poems  pub- 
lished this  year.  It  bore  the  motto,  "  Baccare  frontem  Cingite, 
ne  vati  noceat  mala  lingua  futuro,"  "  Gird  my  brow  with  nard, 
lest  an  evil  tongue  hurt  the  poet  yet  to  be." 

5.  Till  the   sad   breaking,  etc.      Parliament  was  dissolved 
March  10,  1629.     The  Earl  died  four  years  later. 

6.  dishonest  victory.     The  Athenian  orator  Lsocrates  is  said 
to  have  died  from  the  shock  of  the  defeat  of  the  Athenians  and 
Thebans  at  Chseronea. 

9.    later  born.     Milton  here  refers  to  the  early  years  of  the 


NOTES  215 

Earl's  career,  as  he  was  twenty  years  old  when  the  Earl  died. 

1645-1673 

ON  THE  DETRACTION  WHICH  FOLLOWED  UPON  MY  WRITING 
CERTAIN  TREATISES 

(In  Milton's  own  hand  and  copies  in  another  hand  in  the  Cambridge 

MSS.) 

The  list  of  pamphlets  was  now  increased  by  the  tract  On 
Education,  Areopagitica,  and  three  more  on  Divorce :  The 
Judgement  of  Martin  Bucer,  Tetrachordon  and  Colasterion. 
The  last  three  were  called  forth  by  the  attacks  of  his  enemies. 
The  first  of  these  was  a  challenge  to  the  Westminster  Assembly 
which  had  assailed  him  as  "Divorcer";  the  second  was  a 
review  of  the  four  chief  places  in  Scripture  where  the  subject 
of  marriage  is  treated,  and  the  third  was  a  stinging  reply  to  his 
assailants  who  were  determined  to  suppress  all  of  his  sect. 

In  the  meantime  the  fortunes  of  the  Royalists  were  waning, 
until  at  Naseby  in  June,  1645,  defeat  and  ruin  came  at  the 
hands  of  the  new  army  of  the  Independents.  By  this  defeat 
the  Powells  were  made  bankrupt,  and  in  their  distress  they 
turned  to  Milton,  whose  star  was  in  the  ascendant.  Some 
friends  of  both  parties  arranged  by  conspiracy  a  meeting  of 
Milton  and  Mary  Powell  at  a  house  where  he  often  visited  in 
St.  Martins-le-Grand.  When  he  entered  she  emerged  from  an 
adjoining  room,  threw  herself  at  his  feet  and  begged  for  recon- 
ciliation : 

"  With  tears  that  ceas'd  not  flowing 
And  tresses  all  disorder' d,  at  his  feet 
Fell  humble,  and  embracing  them,  besought 

His  peace 

Soon  his  heart  relented 
Tow'rds  her,  his  life  so  late  and  sole  delight 
Now  at  his  feet  submissive  in  distress  ! 
Creature  so  fair  his  reconcilement  seeking, 

At  once  disarmed,  his  anger  all  he  lost." 

Paradise  Lost,  x.  937. 


216  NOTES 

He  received  not  only  her  but  the  family  of  Powells  as  well, 
including  the  mother-in-law  who  probably  encouraged  the  de- 
sertion. The  house  in  Aldersgate  Street  had  proved  too  small 
for  his  classes  and  he  received  the  addition  to  his  family  in  the 
house  at  Barbican.  It  was  here  that  the  sonnets  On  the  De- 
traction were  written.  They  continued  the  controversy  raised 
by  the  pamphlets  on  Divorce.  The  fact  that  they  were  written 
after  his  wife  had  returned,  and  when  he  had  lost  some  interest 
in  the  question,  accounts  for  the  fact  that  they  are  less  violent 
than  the  retorts  in  prose. 

Lowell  says:  "Gentle  as  Milton's  earlier  portraits  would 
seem  to  show  him,  he  had  in  him  by  nature,  or  bred  into  him 
by  fate,  something  of  the  haughty  and  defiant  self-assertion  of 
Dante  and  Michael  Angelo." 

Emerson  says:  "Truly  he  was  the  apostle  of  freedom:  of 
freedom  in  the  home,  in  the  state,  in  the  church  ;  freedom  of 
speech,  freedom  of  the  press,  yet  in  his  own  mind  discrimi- 
nated from  savage  license,  because  that  which  he  desired 
was  the  liberty  of  the  wise  containing  itself  in  the  limits  of 
virtue." 

Mr.  John  Fiske  says  :  "It  was  the  ideas  of  Locke  and  Milton, 
of  Vane  and  Sidney,  that,  when  transplanted  into  French  soil, 
produced  that  violent  but  salutary  ^Revolution  which  has  given 
fresh  life  to  the  European  world." 

1.    In  the  Ms.  this  is  "  I  writ  a  book,"  etc. 

4.  Numbering.     Attracting  as  readers.     This  line  was  in  the 
Ms.  :  "  Good  wits,  but  now  is  seldom." 

5.  stall-reader.     Chance  reader  at  book  stalls. 

6.  title  page.     "Have  you  seen  Tet-Tetra-Tetra-whats  its 
name?"     (It) 

7.  Mile-End  Green.     In  Whitechapel,  about  a  mile  from  the 
centre  of  Old  London. 

8.  Gordon,  etc.     Milton  intends  to  ridicule  the  barbarism  of 
Scottish  names  in  general.      Masson  says  that  more  was  in- 
tended ;  that  he  hit  the  Scottish  Presbyterians  well  known  in 
London.     Colkitto  is   Sir  Alexander  M'Donnel,  knighted  by 
Montrose. 


NOTES  217 

Galasp,  was  probably  Gillespie,  a  member  of  the  Westminster 
Assembly. 

10.  rugged.     In  the  Ms.  "rough  hewn." 

11.  Quintilian.     A  Latin  rhetorician. 

12.  13.   Thy  age,  etc.     Thy  age  did  not  hate  learning  as  does 
ours. 

John  Cheek.     Teacher  of  Greek  at  Cambridge.     He  met  with 
opposition  from  many  of  the  unlearned. 

ON  THE  SAME 

Where  the  preceding  sonnet  is  playful,  this  is  severe  in  indig- 
nation. 

4.  cuckoos.     In  first  draft  this  was  "  buzzards." 

5.  those  hinds,  etc.     Lycian  rustics  who,  when  Latona  with 
her  children  Apollo  and  Diana  in  her  arms  fled  from  Juno,  re- 
fused to  let  her  drink  of  the  water  in  a  certain  lake,  and  pud- 
dled the  water,  were  turned  into  frogs  and  doomed  to  live  in 
the  muddy  water.     Cf.  Ovid,  Met.  vi.  337-381.     Faerie  Queene, 
II.  xii.  13 : 

' '  Till  that  Latona  tra veiling  that  way, 
Flying  from  Junoes  wrath  and  hard  assay, 
Of  her  fayre  twins  was  there  delivered, 
Which  afterward  did  rule  the  night  and  day." 

7.  in  fee.     Ownership. 

8.  pearl  to  hogs.     Cf.  Matthew  vii.  6. 

10.  And  still  revolt,  etc.     This  originally  was,  "And  hate 
the  truth  whereby  he  should  be  free."     Cf.  John  viii.  32. 

11,  12.   Licence  they  mean,  etc.      Cf.  Eikonoclastes,  1649: 
' '  None  can  love  Freedom  heartily  but  good  men  :  the  rest  love 
not  Freedom,  but  License." 

13.  rove.     Shoot  wide  of.     Cf.  Faerie  Queene,  I.,  Introd.  2  : 

"  Fair  Venus  sonne,  that  with  thy  cruell  dart 
At  thy  good  knight  so  cunningly  didst  rove." 

14.  for.    Notwithstanding. 


218  NOTES 

1646-1673 

ON  THE  NEW  FORCERS  or  CONSCIENCE 
(Copy  in  the  hand  of  an  amanuensis  in  the  Cambridge  MSS.) 

Milton's  father  died  in  March  of  this  year  and  was  buried  in 
St.  Giles',  Cripplegate.  As  is  the  case  with  Burns,  Carlyle, 
Wordsworth,  and  Tennyson,  Milton  owed  as  much  to  the 
father's  influence  as  to  the  mother's.  He  has  acknowledged 
his  gratitude  to  him  in  prose  and  verse.  In  prose  he  praises 
"the  ceaseless  diligence  and  care  of  a  father  whom  God  recom- 
pense"; and  in  a  Latin  poem,  Ad  Patrem,  written  at  Horton, 
there  is  a  warmth  of  genuine  piety  and  noble  regard. 

The  Independents  were  now  a  powerful  party  and  determined 
to  espouse  freedom  of  conscience  against  the  system  of  Pres- 
byterian Church  Government  which  represented  "  No  Tolera- 
tion," and  the  suppression  of  all  sects  not  in  uniformity. 
Against  this  intolerance  Milton  raised  his  voice  in  this  poem. 
Masson  says:  "He  intended  it  to  be  what  may  be  called  an 
Anti-Presbyterian  and  Pro-Toleration  sonnet.  But  when  he 
had  reached  the  fourteenth  line,  Milton  had  not  packed  in  it  all 
he  meant  to  say  ;  and  so  added  six  lines  more  of  jagged  verse, 
converting  the  piece  into  a  kind  of  sonnet  with  a  scorpion's  tail 
to  it.  Although  not  published  till  1673  it  was  probably  in  pri- 
vate circulation  doing  service  for  Independency  and  Liberty  of 
Conscience  from  1646  onwards." 

Greene  says  :  "  There  was  one  thing  dearer  to  England  than 
free  speech  in  Parliament,  than  security  of  property,  or  even 
personal  liberty  ;  and  that  one  thing  was,  in  the  phrase  of  the 
day,  the  Gospel." 

1.  thrown  off,  etc.  Alluding  to  the  throwing  off  of  Episco- 
pacy by  the  Long  Parliament. 

3.  To  seize,  etc.  To  imitate  the  Episcopal  Prelates  in  holding 
plurality  of  livings,  such  as  parochial  revenues  and  University 
Posts,  etc. 

5.  Dare  ye  adjure,  etc.  The  Presbyterians  had  demanded 
that  Episcopacy  be  abolished,  that  the  Presbytery  be  established, 


NOTES  219 

and  that  violations  of  the  latter  should  be  punished  by  the 
state. 

6.  our  consciences.     Ms.  has  "the"  for  "our." 

7.  Classic  Hierarchy.     The  Presbyterian  church  courts. 

8.  A.  S.    Adam  Stewart,  a  Scottish  defender  of  the  Presby- 
tery against  the  Independents. 

Rutherford  (Samuel).     The  well-known  Scottish  divine. 

12.  shallow  Edwards.  Thomas  Edwards,  a  London  preacher 
who  opposed  the  Independents.  In  the  original,  "shallow  "  was 
"haire-brain'd." 

Scotch  What-d'ye-call.  Rev.  Robert  Baillie  of  the  University 
of  Oxford. 

14.  packings,  etc.  By  which  the  Assembly  was  unduly  con- 
stituted. 

17.  clip  your  phylacteries,  etc.  Parliament  was  the  only 
hope  of  the  Independents  and  those  seeking  freedom  in  matters 
of  religion. 

baulk.  Stop  at.  That  is,  "cut  away  the  badge  of  sanctity, 
yet  not  mutilate  as  you  would  do  to  us  heretics  if  you  could." 
Milton  first  wrote  for  this  line  :  ' '  Crop  ye  as  close  as  marginal 

P 's  eares."  Alluding  to  Prynne,  whose  ears  were  cut  off 

(for  his  Anti-Prelatic  writings)  by  order  of  Laud,  and  who  was 
wont  to  fill  the  margins  of  his  books  with  quotations. 

20.  Presbyter  is  but  old  Priest,  etc.  Priest  is  a  contraction 
of  the  Greek  word  Presbyteros,  an  Elder. 

1646-1648-1673 
To  MR.   H.  LAWES  ON  HIS  AIRS 

(Two  copies  in  Milton's  own  hand  and  one  in  another's  in  the 
Cambridge  MSS.) 

We  have  already  seen  something  of  Mr.  Lawes  in  our  study 
of  Arcades  and  Comus.  What  interests  us  here  is  that  we  have 
evidence  of  the  continued  friendship  of  Milton  and  Lawes, 
although  one  was  an  Independent  and  the  other  a  Royalist. 
This  sonnet,  written  in  February,  104G,  was  first  printed  in  a 
volume  entitled  Choice  Psalmes,  put  into  Musick  for  three 


220  NOTES 

voices  :  composed  by  Henry  and  William  Lawes,  Brothers  and 
Servants  to  His  Majestie,  published  in  1648.  The  poem  was 
probably  given  to  Lawes  at  the  time  it  was  written,  as  a  pledge 
of  friendship  in  return  for  the  use  of  his  name  in  connection 
with  Arcades  and  Comus.  As  Lawes  had  set  to  music  many 
songs  which  became  very  popular,  Milton  associated  his  name 
with  the  first  publication  of  his  poems,  1645,  and  the  title-page 
bore  the  following:  "The  Songs  were  set  in  Musick  by  Mr. 
Henry  Lawes,  Gentleman  of  the  King's  Chappel  and  one  of  His 
Magesties  private  Musick."  The  allusion  was  of  course  to  the 
songs  in  Arcades  and  Comus. 

Lawes  lived  until  after  the  Restoration.  He  was  returned  to 
his  royal  position  and  composed  the  Ode  for  the  Coronation  of 
Charles  II.  at  the  time  when  Milton  was  blind  and  in  hiding. 
He  died  in  1662  and  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

3.  Words  with  just  note,  etc.      This  line  has  two  earlier 
forms  :  "  Words  with  just  notes  which  till  then  used  to  scan," 
and,  "  Words  with  just  notes  when  most  were  wont  to  scan." 

4.  Midas'  ears.      Alluding  to  the  ass's  ears  which  Apollo 
gave  Midas  for  his  lack  of  sense  in  awarding  the  palm  to  Pan 
against  Apollo  in  the  contest  of  music.      Cf.  Ovid,  Met.  xi.  174. 

committing.  Confounding.  At  first  the  word  was  "mis- 
joining." 

5.  exempts.     Precludes  your  being  of  that  class  who  mistake 
"short  for  long." 

6-8.    These  lines  originally  were  : 

"  And  gives  thee  praise  above  the  pipe  of  Pan  : 
In  after  age  thou  shalt  be  writ  a  man 
That  didst  reform  thy  art,  the  chief  among." 

11.  or  story.     This  is  explained  by  a  marginal  note  to  the 
sonnet  as  it  was  prefixed  to  Lawes'   Choice   Psalmes :   "The 
story  of  Ariadne  set  by  him  to  musick."     (M.) 

12,  13.    These  lines  in  first  form  were  : 

"  Fame,  by  the  Tuscan's  leave,  shall  set  thee  higher 
Than  old  Casell,  whom  Dante  wooed  to  sing." 


NOTES  221 

Cf.  Dante,  Puryatorio,  ii.     Dante  meets  his  old  friend  Casella, 
the  musician,  and  asks  him  to  sing. 

"  If  new  law  taketh  not  from  thee 
Memory  or  custom  of  love-turned  song, 
That  whilom  all  my  cares  had  power  to  'swage  ; 
Please  thee  therewith  a  little  to  console 
My  spirit,  that  encumber' d  with  its  fame, 
Traveling  so  far,  of  pain  is  overcome,"  etc. 

milder.     That  is,  than  those  of  Purgatory. 


1646-1673 

ON  THE  RELIGIOUS  MEMORY  OF  MRS.  CATHERINE  THOMSON 
(Two  copies  in  Milton's  own  hand  in  the  Cambridge  MSS.) 

Notwithstanding  the  bitterness  of  controversy  Milton  found 
opportunity  to  indulge  in  the  most  delightful  personal  friend- 
ships, of  one  of  which  this  sonnet  is  a  memorial.  Pattison  says  : 
"  Now,  out  of  all  the  clamour  and  the  bitterness  of  sects,  he  can 
retire  and  be  alone  with  his  heavenly  aspirations  which  have 
lost  none  of  their  ardour  by  having  laid  aside  all  their  sectari- 
anism." 

3.  earthy.    Some  editions  have  the  corrupted  form  ' '  earthly. " 
load.     Originally  "  clod. " 

4.  Of  death,  etc.     The  original  rendering  was  : 

"  Of  flesh  and  sin,  which  man  from  heaven  doth  sever." 

5.  Thy  works.     Cf.  Acts  x.  4,  and  Rev.  xiv.  13. 

6-10.    Stayed  not  behind,  etc.     Originally  these  lines  were  : 

"  Straight  followed  thee  the  path  that  saints  have  trod  ; 
Still  as  they  journeyed  from  this  dark  abode 
Up  to  the  realms  of  peace  and  joy  for  ever, 
Faith  showed  the  way,  and  she,  who  saw  them  best 
Thy  handmaids,"  etc. 


222  NOTES 

1648-1693-1713 

Ox  THE  LORD  GENERAL  FAIRFAX 
(In  Milton's  own  hand  in  the  Cambridge  MSS.) 

About  Michaelmas,  1647,  Milton  gave  up  taking  pupils  and 
moved  to  a  smaller  house  in  High  Holborn,  opening  into  Lin- 
coln's Inn  Fields.  Cromwell  and  Fairfax  had  marched  through 
London,  and  the  flight  of  Charles  I.  from  Hampton  Court  to  the 
Isle  of  Wight  soon  followed.  Milton  was  studiously  employed 
in  literary  work,  planning  a  Latin  Dictionary,  a  Complete  His- 
tory of  England  and  a  Digest  of  Christian  Doctrine:  so  much 
did  his  love  of  letters  precede  his  Republicanism.  He  also 
translated  nine  Psalms,  Ixxx.-lxxxviii. 

The  English  and  Scottish  Royalists  rose  in  behalf  of  Charles, 
now  a  prisoner  at  the  Isle  of  Wight.  This  uprising  was  the 
Second  Civil  War.  Cromwell  met  and  defeated  the  northern 
Royalists  (Scots)  at  Preston,  and  Fairfax  laid  siege  to  Col- 
chester, a  town  which  had  been  seized  by  the  Royalists.  It 
surrendered  after  three  months  and  the  fame  of  Fairfax  seemed 
complete.  It  was  in  celebration  of  this  great  victory  that  Mil- 
ton wrote  this  sonnet. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  Fairfax  would  not  approve  of 
the  execution  of  Charles,  which  took  place  January  30,  1649, 
and  the  following  year  he  resigned  his  office  and  retired  to 
private  life.  Although  Milton  defended  the  execution,  yet  he 
did  not  forget  to  pay  Fairfax  his  tribute  as  late  as  1654,  for  in 
his  Defensio  Secunda  he  alluded  to  him  as  "a  man  in  whom 
nature  and  the  divine  favour  have  joined  with  the  greatest  forti- 
tude a  modesty  and  a  purity  of  life  equally  great."  Besides 
being  a  great  general,  Fairfax  was  a  man  of  taste  and  learning. 
It  was  by  his  care  that  the  great  Bodleian  library  was  saved  at 
the  surrender  of  Oxford,  1646.  His  retirement  from  office 
was  largely  due  to  his  desire  to  live  in  the  quiet  of  delightful 
studies,  and  he  became  a  competitor  of  Milton  in  the  paraphrase 
of  the  Psalms. 

The  sonnet  was  first  printed  (and  badly  printed)  in  Phillips' 


NOTES  223 

ife  of  Milton.  It  is  not  in  the  edition  of  1673  because  of  its 
"  pre-Restoration  "  ideas.  It  was  first  printed  in  Milton's 
works  in  1713. 

2.   Filling.     Phillips  has  "and  fills." 

4.  that.     Phillips  has  "which." 

5.  virtue.     Phillips  has  "  valour. " 

6.  though.     Phillips  has  "while." 

7.  the  false  North.     Parliament  considered  the  work  of  the 
Scotch  army  in  the  North  as  a  breach  of  the  Solemn  League  and 
Covenant. 

8.  imp.     To  piece  out,  mend.     Cf.  Richard  II.  ii.  1:  "Imp 
out  our  drooping  country's  broken  wing." 

their.     Phillips  has  "  her. " 

10.  endless  war.     Phillips  has  "  acts  of  war." 

11.  truth  and  right.     Phillips  has  "  injured  truth." 

12.  cleared  from,  etc.     Phillips  has  "be  rescued  from  the 
brand." 

14.   share.     Phillips  has  "  shares. " 

How  Phillips'  copy  came  to  differ  so  much  from  the  origi- 
nal Ms.  is  not  known.  It  went  unchallenged  until  1752,  when 
Newton  went  back  to  the  Ms. 

1652-1694-1713 

To  THE  LORD  GENERAL  CROMWELL 
(In  the  hand  of  an  amanuensis  in  the  Cambridge  MSS.) 

After  the  execution  of  the  King  in  January,  1649,  the  power 
was  centred  in  the  Council  of  State.  This  Council  needed  for 
Secretary  one  who  could  translate  the  State  papers,  and  it  is 
not  surprising  that  they  turned  to  Milton,  who  had  lately  de- 
fended their  action  in  the  pamphlet,  Tenure  of  Kings  and 
Magistrates.  Here  a  new  world  opened  to  him.  He  would  be 
a  companion  of  the  great  men  whom  he  admired  —  of  Fairfax, 
Cromwell,  and  Vane.  On  March  15,  1649,  he  was  inducted 
into  office.  As  High  Holborn  was  inconveniently  distant  from 
his  desk,  he  moved  to  Petty  France  in  Westminster,  opening 
into  St.  James  Park,  where  he  lived  until  the  Restoration. 


224  NOTES 

Besides  translating  despatches  he  was  the  censor  of  the  official 
organ,  the  Mercurius  Politicus,  and  he  was  expected  to  reply  to 
any  attacks  made  upon  the  government.  He  returned  the  fire 
of  Gauden's  Eikon  Basilike,  in  Eikonoklastes,  and  of  Salma- 
sius'  Defensio  Regia,  in  Pro  Popnlo  Anglicano  Defensio.  In 
this  close  application  he  injured  his  eyesight. 

The  latest  acts  of  Cromwell's  career  before  he  was  made  Pro- 
tector were  his  conduct  of  the  campaign  in  Ireland  and  Scotland, 
and  his  victory  at  Worcester,  when  the  cause  of  Charles  II.  was 
ruined  in  Scotland.  He  was  in  London  when  this  sonnet  was 
written.  Religious  sects  were  clamoring  for  the  enactment  of 
their  narrow  conceptions  of  Church  Government ;  a  new  Estab- 
lished Church  was  desired,  and  Milton  in  this  sonnet  called  upon 
Cromwell  to  resist  the  movement. 

The  question  naturally  arises,  What  was  Cromwell's  opinion 
of  Milton  ?  Mr.  Augustine  Birrell  says  :  "  There  is  nothing  to 
prove  that  Cromwell  and  Milton,  the  body  and  soul  of  English 
Republicanism,  were  ever  in  the  same  room  together,  or  ex- 
changed words  with  one  another."  Naturally  there  could  be 
but  little  in  common  between  the  two  men,  except  the  question 
of  the  Commonwealth,  and  even  here  there  was  not  entire  har- 
mony of  feeling.  Milton  must  have  felt  there  was  some  cause 
for  fear  that  Cromwell  would  not  be  tolerant,  or  he  would  not 
have  written  this  sonnet.  That  his  fears  were  well  grounded  is 
proved  by  subsequent  events  and  the  estrangement  of  Vane. 
This  sonnet  and  that  to  Vane  are  singularly  beautiful  illustra- 
tions of  the  catholicity  of  Milton  the  poet,  as  some  of  his  prose 
pamphlets  are  equally  revelations  of  Milton  the  partisan. 

"  We  must  be  free  or  die,  who  speak  the  tongue 
That  Shakespeare  spoke,  the  faith  arid  morals  hold 
That  Milton  held."  WORD.WO.TH. 

Of  the  various  estimates  of  the  character  of  Cromwell,  those 
representing  the  farthest  extremes  are  by  Clarendon  and  Carlyle. 
Clarendon  believed  that  posterity  would  look  upon  Cromwell 
as  a  "brave  bad  man"  ;  while  Carlyle  thought  it  would  con- 
sider him  in  the  character  of  "a  prophetic  man  ;  a  man  with 


NOTES  225 

his  whole  soul  seeing  and  struggling  to  see."    The  golden  mean 
between  these  opinions  has  not  yet  been  reached. 

This  sonnet  was  first  printed  by  Phillips  in  1694,  in  his  Life 
of  Milton,  and  varies  much  from  the  copy  in  Ms.  by  the  hand 
of  an  amanuensis. 

1,  2.  cloud  not  of  war  only,  etc.  "Nubem  belli."  Cf. 
^Eneid,  x.  809.  — NEWTON. 

detractions.    Phillips  has  "distractions." 

5.  crowned  Fortune.     An  allusion  to  King  Charles  and  his 
family,  and  the  battle  of  Worcester.     (K.) 

This  line  was  omitted  from  Phillips'  copy. 

6.  Hast  reared,  etc.     Phillips  has  — 

"  And  fought  God's  battles,  and  his  work  pursued." 

7.  Darwen.     A  river  in  Lancashire,  near  which  the  battle  of 
Preston  was  fought. 

8.  Dunbar  field.     Where  Cromwell  fought  the  famous  battle 
of  Dunbar,  beating  the  Scots,  and  joined  Scotland  to  the  Eng- 
lish Commonwealth.     (M.) 

9.  Worcester's  laureate  wreath.     Cromwell's  crowning  vic- 
tory of  Sept.  3,  1651.     The  Ms.  reads  — 

"  And  twenty  battles  more  :  yet  much  remains." 

The  change  was  made  by  Phillips,  but  from  what  is  not  known. 

12.  secular  chains.  Milton  feared  these  chains  of  the  Pres- 
byterians as  much  as  he  did  the  ecclesiastical  chains  of  the 
Royalists. 

14.  hireling  wolves.  Nothing  better  illustrates  Milton's  in- 
dependence than  does  this  charge  and  the  similar  one  in  Lycidas 
against  the  Episcopalians. 

1652-1694-1713 
To  SIR  HENRY  VANE  THE  YOUNGER 

(Copy  from  Milton's  dictation  in  the  Cambridge  MSS.) 
The  dramatic  career  of  Sir  Henry  Vane  falls  into  four  acts  : 
First,  the  period  of  youth  ;   second,  his  service  in  New  Eng- 
Q 


226  NOTES 

land;  third,  his  association  with  Cromwell  in  the  Civil  War; 
and  fourth,  his  revolt  against  the  usurpation  of  Cromwell. 

No  English  statesman  had  a  clearer  insight  into  what  consti- 
tutes civil  and  religious  liberty,  a  more  unselfish  purpose  to  de- 
fend the  right  as  God  had  given  him  power  to  see  it,  a  greater 
Christian  fortitude  to  bear  the  pain  of  tyrannical  and  cruel 
death. 

At  the  time  Milton  wrote  this  sonnet  Vane  was  a  distinguished 
member  of  the  Council  of  State.  The  breach  between  Crom- 
well and  Vane,  caused  by  Vane's  refusal  to  approve  of  the  exe- 
cution of  the  King,  and  his  noble  stand  for  toleration  of  all  sects, 
even  the  Catholics,  was  growing  wider  and  wider. 

Vane  had  said  in  Parliament:  "  Why  should  the  labours  of 
any  be  suppressed,  if  sober,  though  never  so  different  ?  We 
now  profess  to  seek  God,  we  desire  to  see  light."  Roger 
Williams,  who  had  spent  some  weeks  with  Vane  at  his  country 
house  in  Lincolnshire  consulting  him  upon  the  Puritan  persecu- 
tion of  the  Friends  in  New  England,  called  this  a  ' '  heavenly 
speech." 

The  army  was  devoted  to  Cromwell ;  by  its  aid  Parliament 
was  to  be  dissolved,  and  in  the  election  of  a  new  Parliament 
none  who  fought  on  the  losing  side,  whether  Royalist  or  Presby- 
terian, should  have  any  part.  Vane  stood  for  the  rule  of  Par- 
liament, that  it  should  dissolve  itself,  or  that  Cromwell  should 
act  as  the  servant  of  Parliament.  Conferences  were  held,  but 
Cromwell  grew  more  and  more  determined  in  his  disposition  to 
rule  by  the  sword.  On  the  20th  of  April,  1653,  when  Vane  was 
speaking  in  the  House  upon  the  bill  for  dissolution,  Cromwell 
entered  with  a  body  of  soldiers.  When  the  question  was  about 
to  be  put  he  rose  and  poured  out  a  torrent  of  invective,  "  speak- 
ing," says  Ludlow,  "with  so  much  passion  and  discomposure, 
as  if  he  had  been  distracted."  Vane  and  others  attempted  to 
reply,  but  were  met  with  a  prompt  command  from  Cromwell : 
"Come,  come,  I'll  put  an  end  to  your  prating.  You  are  no 
Parliament.  I'll  put  an  end  to  your  sitting.  Begone!"  As 
Vane  left  the  House  he  passed  Cromwell  and  said,  "  This  is  not 
honest !  Yea,  it  is  against  morality  and  common  honesty  ! ' ' 


NOTES  227 

To  this  Cromwell  shouted,  "  Sir  Harry  Vane  !  Sir  Harry  Vane  ! 
The  Lord  deliver  me  from  Sir  Harry  Vane  !  " 

Vane  retired  to  his  estate  at  Raby  Castle  and  lived  with  his 
family  and  those  studies  so  dear  to  him,  waiting  for  the  next 
call  to  defend  the  Cause.  He  wrote  a  treatise  entitled  A  Heal- 
ing Question,  "  in  which  he  proposed,"  says  John  Forster,  "  for 
the  first  time  in  the  records  of  history  that  expedient  of  organ- 
izing a  government  in  certain  fundamentals  not  to  be  dispensed 
with,  which  was  thought  visionary  and  impracticable  until  the 
world  learned  to  venerate  the  name  of  Washington."  Crom- 
well ordered  his  arrest,  and  imprisoned  him  at  the  Isle  of  Wight 
for  about  four  months.  After  the  death  of  Cromwell  in  1658  he 
was  returned  to  Parliament.  At  the  Restoration  he  was  arrested, 
and  on  June  14,  1662,  was  beheaded  for  the  very  act  which  he 
never  approved  —  the  execution  of  Charles  I.  His  last  words 
were  :  "  I  bless  the  Lord  who  has  accounted  me  worthy  to  suffer 
for  his  name."  Milton  did  not  dare  print  this  and  the  preced- 
ing sonnet  in  his  edition  of  1673. 

Whittier,  in  his  poem  The  King's  Missive,  alluded  to  the. 
treatment  of  the  Friends  at  the  hands  of  New  England  Puritans. 
Rev.  George  E.  Ellis  criticised  the  ballad  in  that  (as  he  thought) 
it  was  not  historically  accurate.  In  Whittier 's  reply  to  this 
criticism  he  says  :  ' '  With  the  single  exception  of  the  Friends, 
every  sect  in  Christendom  believed  in  the  right  of  the  magistrate 
to  punish  heresy.  There  were  indeed  individuals,  and  among 
the  noblest  of  the  age,  who  sympathized  with  the  persecuted 
Friends,  and  exerted  themselves  for  their  relief — such  men  as 
Sydney  and  Vane,  Milton  and  Marvel.  .  .  .  But  these  were 
solitary  exceptions."  —  Life  and  Letters  of  John  Greenleaf 
Whittier,  Vol.  II.,  Appendix. 

Mr.  John  Fiske  says:  "It  is  pleasant  to  remember  that  one 
of  the  greatest  Puritan  statesmen  of  that  heroic  age,  the  man 
who  dared  even  to  withstand  Cromwell  at  the  height  of  his 
power  when  his  measures  became  too  violent,  —  that  this  admir- 
able man  was  once  the  chief  magistrate  of  an  American  Common- 
wealth. Thorough  republican  and  enthusiastic  lover  of  liberty, 
he  was  spiritually  akin  to  Jefferson  and  to  Samuel  Adams." 


228  NOTES 

John  Forster  says  :  "  During  the  progress  of  Vane's  brilliant 
administration  of  the  government,  Milton  addressed  to  him  his 
famous  sonnet ;  and  at  the  same  time,  as  if  with  the  view  of 
composing  these  fatal  differences  between  them,  which  threat- 
ened the  state  with  calamity,  by  showing  how  the  glories  of 
each  might  be  celebrated  by  the  same  impartial  pen,  the  divine 
poet  forwarded  another,  not  less  famous  sonnet,  to  Cromwell." 

Cf.  The  Statesmen  of  the  Commonwealth,  John  Forster ; 
Chief  Actors  in  the  Puritan  Revolution,  Peter  Bayne. 

The  sonnet  was  first  printed  by  Phillips,  but  with  few  varia- 
tions from  the  Ms. 

1.   counsel.     Phillips  has  "  councels. " 

3,  4.  when  gowns,  etc.  Alluding  to  the  fact  that  it  was  the 
wisdom  of  statesmen,  not  skill  of  generals,  that  saved  Rome 
from  Pyrrhus  and  Hannibal. 

"  It  is  the  authors  more  than  the  diplomats,  who  make  nations 
love  one  another."  — TENNYSON  (Memoir^). 

6.  hollow  states.  The  States  of  Holland,  the  relations  of 
which  to  the  Commonwealth  were  not  explicit.  (M.) 

7-14.   Then  to  advise,  etc.     Phillips  has  for  these  lines  : 

"  Then  to  advise  how  war  may  best  be  upheld, 
Mann'd  by  her  own  main  nerves,  iron  and  gold, 

In  all  her  equipage  :  besides,  to  know, 
Both  spiritual  and  civil,  what  each  means, 
What  serves  each,  thou  hast  learn' d,  what  few  have  done. 

The  bounds  of  either  sword  to  thee  we  owe  ; 
Therefore  on  thy  right  hand  Religion  leans, 
And  reckons  thee  in  chief  her  eldest  son." 

The  Cambridge  copy  as  dictated  by  Milton  has  several  correc- 
tions. For  "Then  to  advise"  in  line  7  there  had  been  first 
dictated  "And  to  advise";  for  "Move  by"  in  line  8,  "Move 
on  "  ;  instead  of  the  present  lines  10-11,  the  following  : 

.   "  What  power  the  Church  and  what  the  Civil  means 
Thou  teachest  best,  which  few  have  ever  done. 


NOTES  229 


Altered  later  to : 


"  Both  spiritual  power  and  civil,  what  each  means 
Thou  hast  learned  well,  a  praise  which  few  have  won." 

And  for  "  firm  hand,"  line  13,  "  right  hand."     (M.) 

1655-1673 
ON  THE  LATE  MASSACRE  IN  PIEDMONT 

At  the  close  of  the  year  1652,  and  soon  after  Cromwell  had 
decided  to  dissolve  Parliament,  a  book  was  published  anony- 
mously at  Hague  entitled  Regii  Sanguinis  Clamor,  "Cry 
of  the  King's  blood  to  Heaven  against  the  English  Parricides." 
It  was  dedicated  to  Charles  II.,  and  in  the  dedication  Milton  is 
alluded  to  as  that  "monster,  ugly,  hideous,  huge,  bereft  of 
sight."  The  author  of  this  scurrilous  volume  was  supposed  to 
be  one  Morus,  but  later  it  was  revealed  that  he  was  only  an 
agent  and  that  the  author  was  Peter  Du  Moulin,  an  ex-rector 
in  Yorkshire. 

Milton  at  this  time  was  totally  blind. 

"  So  thick  a  drop  serene  hath  quench'd  these  orbs, 
Or  dim  suffusion  veil'd." 

He  was  in  ill  health  and  mourning  for  the  loss  of  his  wife  and 
little  boy,  —  dolor  unutterable.  He  did  not  reply  to  Clamor 
until  1654,  when  he  published  Defensio  Secunda.  It  was  a 
pitiless  attack  on  his  old  enemy  Salmasius,  Morus,  and  Ulac  the 
printer  of  Clamor. 

Mr.  Stopford  Brooke  says:  "Again  and  again,  like  an  un- 
sated  shark,  Milton  returns  to  the  charge  to  draw  fresh  blood 
from  his  dead  and  living  foes  ;  it  is  the  most  merciless  thing  in 
our  literature. ' ' 

It  was  after  this  controversy  had  subsided  that  Milton  com- 
posed this  noble  sonnet  and  the  four  which  follow  it.  All  are 
revelations  of  a  lofty  spirit ;  they  have  the  charm  of  majestic 
music  and  solemn  beauty. 

Mr.  Richard  Garnett  says  :  "  This  sonnet  is  the  most  memo- 


230  NOTES 

rable  example  in  our  language  of  the  fire  and  passion  which 
may  inspire  a  poetical  form  which  some  have  deemed  only  fit  to 
celebrate  a  '  mistress'  eyebrow.'  " 

In  January,  1655,  the  Turin  Government  decided  to  make  the 
Protestant  inhabitants  of  certain  Piedmontese  valleys  conform 
to  the  Catholic  religion.  They  were  ordered  to  quit  the  country 
in  three  days  under  pain  of  death  unless  they  chose  to  change 
their  religion.  They  remonstrated,  but  to  no  purpose.  On  the 
17th  of  April  the  brutal  soldiery  was  let  loose  upon  the  unarmed 
and  defenceless  people.  They  revelled  in  lust,  murder  and 
plunder.  When  the  news  reached  England  a  cry  of  horror 
went  up  ;  a  day  of  humiliation  was  appointed  ;  collections  were 
called  for,  £40,000  was  raised,  and  an  envoy  sent  to  remon- 
strate with  the  Duke  of  Savoy.  Cromwell  was  in  earnest,  and 
the  result  was  a  treaty  by  which  the  survivors  were  to  be  pro- 
tected and  accorded  the  right  to  worship  as  they  desired. 

Mr.  John  Fiske  says:  "Everywhere  else  the  Roman  idea 
seemed  to  have  conquered  or  to  be  conquering  ;  while  they  (the 
Puritans)  seemed  to  be  left  as  the  forlorn  hope  of  the  human 
race.  But  from  the  very  day  when  Oliver  Cromwell  reached 
forth  his  mighty  arm  to  stop  the  persecutions  in  Savoy,  the  vic- 
torious English  idea  began  to  change  the  face  of  things.  .  .  . 
It  has  come  to  rule,  it  has  come  to  stay." 

Masson  says:  "This  sonnet  is  Milton's  private  and  more 
tremendous  expression  in  verse  of  the  feeling  he  expressed 
publicly,  in  Cromwell's  name  in  his  Latin  State  Letters.  Every 
line  labors  with  wrath." 

Macaulay  says  :  "  The  noble  poem  on  the  massacres  of  Pied- 
mont is  strictly  a  collect  in  verse." 

"It  recalls,"  says  Mr.  C.  D.  Deshler,  "  the  style  of  the  Lesser 
Prophets,  which  it  rivals  in  the  magnificence  of  its  imprecations. 
Like  them  it  burns  with  holy  wrath  and  unforgiving  zeal.  It 
pulsates  vehemently  with  the  old  Hebrew  spirit  of  retributive 
vindictiveness." 

In  many  of  Wordsworth's  sonnets  dedicated  to  Liberty  we 
have  strains  as  solemn  and  magnificent,  of  which  the  following 
is  a  type  : 


NOTES  231 


ON   THE    SUBJUGATION    OF   SWITZERLAND 

Two  Voices  are  there  ;  one  is  of  the  sea, 

One  of  the  mountains  ;  each  a  mighty  Voice  : 

In  both  from  age  to  age  thou  didst  rejoice, 

They  were  thy  chosen  music,  Liberty  ! 

There  came  a  Tyrant,  and  with  holy  glee 

Thou  fought'st  against  him  ;  but  hast  vainly  striven  : 

Thou  from  thy  Alpine  holds  at  length  art  driven, 

Where  not  a  torrent  murmurs  heard  by  thee. 

Of  one  deep  bliss  thine  ear  hath  been  bereft : 

Then  cleave,  O  cleave  to  that  which  still  is  left ; 

For,  high-souled  Maid,  what  sorrow  would  it  be 

That  Mountain  floods  should  thunder  as  before, 

And  Ocean  bellow  from  his  rocky  shore, 

And  neither  awful  Voice  be  heard  by  thee  ! 

Archbishop  Trench  says  :  "  Wordsworth's  sonnets  to  Liberty 
are  filled  with  trumpet-notes,  for  in  his  hands  also,  as  in  Milton's 
before  him, 

'the  thing  became  a  trumpet.'  " 

5.    in  thy  book,  etc.     Cf.  Psalms  Ivi. 

7.  that  rolled,  etc.  Warton  alludes  to  an  account  of  the 
massacre  by  Sir  W.  Moreland,  where  there  is  a  print  showing 
this  cruelty.  (M.) 

10.   martyred  blood,  etc.     An  adaptation  of  Tertullian's  — 
"  Sanguis  martyrum  semen  est  Ecclesise." 

12.  triple  Tyrant.  The  Pope  with  his  triple  crown.  Milton 
in  his  Latin  poem  In  Quintum  Novembris  called  the  crown 
' '  Tri-coronif er. ' ' 

14.  the  Babylonian  woe.  The  Puritans  regarded  the  Church 
of  Rome  as  the  mystical  Babylon  of  the  Apocalypse.  Cf.  Rev. 
xvii.,  xviii. 

1655-1673 
ON  HIS  BLINDNESS 

That  Milton  became  totally  blind  in  1652  is  evident  from  the 
fact  that  the  sonnets  of  that  year  to  Cromwell  and  Vane  are  not 


232  NOTES 

in  his  own  hand.  The  reason  that  the  sonnet  on  his  blindness 
was  not  written  earlier  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  he  had  been 
devoting  all  his  powers  to  the  replies  to  Clamor.  He  had  now 
completed  the  last  of  these  —  the  Pro  se  Defensio.  He  had 
been  made  a  subject  of  scorn  and  coarse  jest  in  the  Clamor, 
and  his  enemies  at  home  taunted  him  with  suffering  the  just 
judgment  of  God  for  his  conduct  in  the  affairs  of  Church  and 
State.  We  must  believe  that  these  things  at  times  caused  him 
to  be  depressed.  Masson  says  :  "  Again  and  again  in  Milton's 
later  writings  in  prose  and  verse  there  are  passages  of  the  most 
touching  sorrow  over  his  darkened  and  desolate  condition." 
When  we  consider  how  intense  was  Milton's  nature:  how  bitter 
was  his  disposition  when  attacked  ;  how  proud  he  was,  and 
with  what  impatience  he  bore  some  of  the  domestic  infelicities 
for  which  he  alone  was  responsible,  we  are  amazed  at  the  lofty 
serenity  and  the  holy  resignation  which  this  poem  reveals." 

Mr.  Stopford  Brooke  says:  "Having  done  with  personal 
wars,  he  looked  forward  always  to  the  time  when  he  might 
let  himself  loose,  and,  leaving  the  disputes  and  passions  of 
earth,  soar  into  the  poetic  air  in  which  alone  he  breathed 
with  ease  and  pleasure  and  triumph.  He  loved  the  solemn 
beauty  of  lofty  thought  more  than  any  man  in  England  has 
ever  loved  it.  " 

Lowell  says  :  "  There  is  hardly  a  more  stately  figure  in  liter- 
ary history  than  Milton's,  no  life  in  some  of  its  aspects  more 
tragical,  except  Dante's.  In  both  these  great  poets,  more  than 
in  any  others,  the  character  of  the  man  makes  part  of  the  sin- 
gular impressiveness  of  what  they  wrote,  and  of  its  vitality  in 
after  times." 

In  the  Tractate  on  Education  Milton  had  said  that  the  read- 
ing of  the  masters  would  reveal  to  pupils  "what  religious,  what 
glorious  and  magnificent  use  might  be  made  of  Poetry,  both  in 
divine  and  human  things."  When  he  wrote  this  he  little 
thought  that  his  own  "glorious  and  magnificent"  poetry  would 
be  the  highest  revelation  of  the  divine  and  the  human  ;  that  it 
would  inspire  the  same  calm  and  steady  heroism  in  others  when 
facing  the  pitiless  storm.  Cf.  Paradise  Lost,  iii.  41-44  : 


NOTES  233 

"  Seasons  return  ;  but  not  to  me  returns 
Day,  or  the  sweet  approach  of  even  or  morn 
Or  sight  of  vernal  bloom,  or  summer's  rose, 
Or  flocks,  or  herds,  or  human  face  divine." 

It  was  this  magnificent  spectacle  which  perhaps  more  than 
any  other  fortified  Wordsworth  against  malignant  truth  or  lie, 
and  enabled  him  to  be  strong  in  himself  and  powerful  to  give 
strength.  In  the  following,  which  Wordsworth  wished  prefixed 
to  every  edition  of  his  works,  we  have  the  keynote  of  his  spirit. 

"If  thou  indeed  derive  thy  light  from  Heaven, 
Then  to  the  measure  of  that  heaven-born  light, 
Shine,  Poet,  in  thy  place,  and  be  content. 
The  stars  pre-eminent  in  magnitude, 
And  they  that  from  the  zenith  dart  their  beams, 
(Visible  though  they  be  to  half  the  earth, 
Though  half  a  sphere  be  conscious  of  their  brightness) , 
Are  yet  of  no  diviner  origin, 
No  purer  essence,  than  the  one  that  burns, 
Like  an  untended  watch-fire  on  the  ridge 
Of  some  dark  mountain  ;  or  than  those  which  seem 
Humbly  to  hang,  like  twinkling  winter  lamps, 
Among  the  branches  of  the  leafless  trees. 
Then  to  the  measure  of  the  light  vouchsafed, 
Shine,  Poet,  in  thy  place,  and  be  content." 

2.  Ere  half  my  days.     Milton's  eyesight  began  to  fail  several 
years  before  he  became  totally  blind  in  1652. 

3.  one  talent.     Cf.  Matthew  xxv.  14. 

"That  first  great  gift,  the  vital  soul." 

WORDSWORTH,  Prelude,  1. 
8.    fondly.     Foolishly. 
12.   thousands,  etc.     Cf.  Spenser,  Hymn  of  Heavenly  Love  : 

"  There  they  in  their  trinal  triplicities 
About  him  wait  and  on  his  will  depend,"  etc. 


234  NOTES 

1655-1673 
To  MR.  LAWRENCE 

We  must  not  forget  that  Milton  was  not  on  intimate  terms 
with  the  scholars  of  his  time.  He  had  no  political  friendships  ; 
and  as  he  was  not  connected  with  any  place  of  worship  he  had 
no  spiritual  adviser.  By  reason  of  his  physical  infirmity  and 
by  the  character  of  his  mind  and  heart  he  was  solitary.  "No 
grander  figure,"  says  Mr.  Stopford  Brooke,  "stands  forth  in 
the  whole  of  English  literature,  scarcely  any  grander  in  English 
history,  than  the  figure  of  this  blind,  resolute,  eloquent  man. " 
He  possessed  those  independent  solaces 

"  To  mitigate  the  injurious  sway  of  place 
Or  circumstance  how  far-soever  changed, 
Or  to  be  changed  in  after  years." 

As  the  tumult  and  bitterness  of  personal  strife  dies  away 
there  come  instead  those  revelations  of  tender  sympathy  and 
loving  regard  which  are  full  of  the  deepest  interest.  "His 
house  in  Petty  France  was  sought  by  distinguished  foreigners 
and  Londoners  of  rank,"  says  Masson,  "but  most  assiduous  of 
all  were  former  pupils  and  other  enthusiastic  young  men,  who 
accounted  it  a  privilege  to  read  to  him,  or  act  as  his  amanuenses, 
and  to  hear  him  talk." 

Phillips  says  that  among  the  particular  friends  who  visited 
him  thus  was  "Young  Lawrence,  to  whom  there  is  a  sonnet 
among  the  rest  of  his  printed  poems."  He  was  a  son  of  Henry 
Lawrence  of  St.  Ives,  Westmoreland,  President  of  Cromwell's 
Council. 

The  glimpse  into  the  life  of  Milton  at  this  time  is  altogether 
delightful.  What  treasures  were  placed  within  the  reach  of 
these  young  men ! 

"  Of  knowledge  graced 
By  Fancy,  what  a  rich  repast ! " 

Mr.  Richard  Garnett  says:  "This  sonnet  gives  a  pleasing 
picture  of  the  British  Homer  in  his  Horatian  hour." 
6.   Favonius.     Zephyrus,  the  west  wind. 


NOTES  235 

8.   that  neither  sowed  nor  spun.     Cf.  Matthew  vi.  26-29. 
10.   Of  Attic  taste.    Cf.  Horace,  Book  IV.  Ode  xii.,  To  Virgil  : 

"Virgil,  haste, 

Comrade  of  noble  youths,  and  taste 
Choice  wines  of  Cales  :  my  reward 
One  little  shell  of  Syrian  nard." 

13,  14.  and  spare  to  interpose,  etc.  Refrain  from  interpos- 
ing them  oft.  (M. )  Cf .  Horace,  Epode  ii. ,  Beatus  ille : 

"  What  man  would  change  the  sober  joys 
For  cares  that  fret  or  love  that  cloys." 

1655-1673-1713 

To  CYRIACK  SKINNER 

(Last  ten  lines  in  the  hand  of  an  amanuensis  in  the  Cambridge  MSS.) 

The  subject  of  this  and  the  following  sonnet  was  the  son  of  a 
Lincolnshire  squire.  He  was  "an  ingenious  young  gentleman 
and  pupil  of  Jo:  Milton,"  says  Wood.  Masson  gives  other  evi- 
dences of  Milton's  intimacy  with  him,  and  reveals  the  fact  that 
probably  a  relative  of  Cyriack's  became  Milton's  amanuensis  in 
the  last  years  of  his  life,  and  that  he  was  intrusted  with  certain 
State  papers  and  the  De  Doctrina  Christiana  for  publication. 
As  the  latter  could  not  be  published  in  England,  "being  mis- 
chievous to  the  Church  or  the  State,"  it  was  sent  to  Amsterdam. 
Skinner,  who  was  a  member  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  was 
ordered  not  to  allow  it  published  on  pain  of  expulsion.  It  was 
finally  returned  to  the  Secretary  of  State  and  deposited  in  the 
State  Papers  Office,  where  it  remained  until  1823.  It  was  pub- 
lished in  1825.  The  Treatise  in  the  original  Ms.  is  partly  in  Skin- 
ner's hand  and  partly  in  others  corrected  by  him,  and  is  still  in 
the  State  Papers  Office. 

Ten  lines  of  this  sonnet  are  in  the  Cambridge  Mss.  and  are 
upon  a  leaf  torn  from  some  other  volume  ;  the  paper  is  the  same 
quality  and  size  as  that  used  for  the  Treatise.  (M.) 

Emerson,  in  his  Essay,  John  Milton,  written  in  1838,  says  : 
"  The  discovery  of  the  last  work  of  John  Milton  in  1823  drew  a 


236  NOTES 

sudden  attention  to  his  name.  For  a  short  time  the  literary 
journals  were  filled  with  disquisitions  on  his  genius ;  new 
editions  of  his  works  and  new  compilations  of  his  life  were 
published." 

It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  Macaulay's  famous  essay  on 
Milton  in  the  Edinburgh  Review,  1825,  was  occasioned  by  the 
discovery  of  this  Treatise.  As  to  the  reason  for  making  it  the 
occasion  of  the  essay  he  says  : 

"  The  dextrous  Capuchins  never  choose  to  preach  on  the  life 
and  miracles  of  a  saint,  till  they  have  awakened  the  devotional 
feelings  of  their  auditors  by  exhibiting  some  relic  of  him,  a 
thread  of  his  garment,  a  lock  of  his  hair,  or  a  drop  of  his  blood. 
On  the  same  principle  we  intend  to  take  advantage  of  the  late 
interesting  discovery,  and,  while  this  memorial  of  a  great  and 
good  man  is  in  the  hands  of  all,  to  say  something  of  his  moral 
and  intellectual  qualities." 

2.   Themis.     Goddess  of  law. 

7.  Euclid,  etc.     Skinner  was  interested  in  mathematics  and 
physical  science. 

8.  what  the  Swede  intend,  etc.     An  allusion  to  the  wars  of 
Charles  XII.  of  Sweden  against  Russia,  Poland  and  Denmark, 
and  the  wars  of  Louis  XIV.  in  the  Netherlands. 

12-14.  disapproves  that  care,  etc.  Cf.  Horace,  Book  II. 
Ode  xviii.  : 

Non  ebur  neque  aureum. 

"  Simple  and  true  I  share  with  all 
The  treasures  of  a  kindly  mind  ; 
And  in  my  cottage,  poor  and  small, 
The  great  a  welcome  find." 

1655-1694-1713 

To  THE  SAME 

(Copy  in  the  hand  of  an  amanuensis  in  the  Cambridge  MSS.) 

This  was  first  printed  by  Phillips  in  his  Life  of  Milton,  1694. 
"In  the  Cambridge  Ms.  this  sonnet  is  on  the  same  leaf  as 
the  copy  of  the  last,  but  in  a  different  hand,"  says  Masson. 


NOTES  237 

Professor  Edward  Dowden  says:  "Milton's  inner  life,  of 
which  his  poetry  is  an  expression,  as  his  prose  is  an  expression 
of  his  outer,  public  life,  was  an  unceasing  tending  from  evil  to 
good,  from  base  or  common  to  noble,  a  perpetual  aspiration  to 
moral  greatness."  If  we  are  familiar  with  the  course  of  Mil- 
ton's«life  since  1632,  when  he  wrote  his  first  sonnet,  we  cannot 
fail  to  realize  what  a  struggle  it  was.  In  the  sonnet  on  his 
blindness  we  have  his  willingness  to  serve  by  waiting ;  here  is 
his  determination  to  serve  by  working. 

Lowell  says  :  "  Milton  never  was  fairly  in  his  element  till  he 
got  off  the  soundings  of  prose  and  felt  the  long  swell  of  his  verse 
under  him  like  a  steed  that  knows  his  rider.  ...  In  those 
poems  and  passages  that  stamp  him  great,  the  verses  do  not 
dance  interweaving  to  soft  Lydian  airs,  but  inarch  rather  with 
resounding  tread  and  clang  of  martial  music." 

This  sonnet  was  not  printed  in  edition  of  1673  because  of  its 
political  ideas. 

1.   this  three  years'  day.     Cf.  note  to  On  his  Blindness. 

3.  light.     Phillips  gives  * '  sight. ' ' 

4.  sight.     Phillips  gives  "day." 

5.  Of.     Phillips  gives  "or." 

7.  Heaven's  hand.     Milton  first  had  "  God's  hand." 

8.  bear  up  and.     Milton  first  had  "  attend  to." 

9.  Right  onward.     Milton  first  had  "  Uphillward." 

10.  conscience.     Feeling. 

12.  rings.  Milton  has  "talks,"  corrected  by  Phillips  to 
"rings." 

1658-1673 

ON  HIS  DECEASED  WIFE 
(In  the  hand  of  an  amanuensis  in  the  Cambridge  MSS.) 

In  November,  1656,  Milton  married  Catherine  Woodcock, 
daughter  of  Captain  Woodcock  of  Hackney,  and  the  house  in 
Petty  France  was  lighted  up  with  the  presence  of  a  genial  and 
sympathetic  woman. 

His  labors  as  Secretary  were  now  somewhat  relieved  by  the 
appointment  of  Andrew  Marvel  as  assistant.  It  seems  that 


238  NOTES 

Milton's  fame  as  champion  of  liberty  had  spread  abroad,  for  Au- 
brey says  that  he  was  urged  to  come  to  France  and  Italy,  where 
he  was  offered  "great  preferments."  Many  foreigners  visited 
England  "to  see  the  house  and  chamber  where  he  was  born." 
It  was  a  time  of  quiet  and  he  was  meditating  his  flight  "above 
the  Aeonian  Mount"  in  Paradise  Lost.  He  writes  to  a  Mend: 
"  I  am  glad  to  know  that  you  are  assured  of  my  tranquil  spirit 
in  this  great  affliction  of  the  loss  of  sight,  and  also  of  the 
pleasure  I  have  in  being  civil  and  attentive  in  the  reception  of 
visitors  from  abroad.  Why,  in  truth,  should  I  not  gently  bear 
the  loss  of  sight  when  I  may  hope  that  it  is  not  so  much  lost  as 
retracted  inwards  for  the  sharpening  rather  than  the  blunting 
of  my  mental  edge."  But  the  blessing  of  sympathetic  and 
tender  attentions  from  a  partner  in  his  joys  and  sorrows  was 
not  long  to  be  his,  for  early  in  1G58  his  wife  died  in  childbirth, 
and  the  infant  daughter  lived  but  a  month.  Left  with  his  three 
young  daughters,  the  eldest  only  twelve,  in  his  despondency  he 
would  wander  from  room  to  room  and  recall  the  pleasant  hours 
spent  with  her  in  whose  person  shone  that  'love,  sweetness 
and  goodness'  which  for  one  year  had  made  him  strangely 
happy.  We  may  fancy  him  stopping  at  the  doors  where  his 
heart  was  used  to  beat  so  quickly,  and 

"  Waiting  for  a  hand, 
A  hand  that  can  be  clasp'd  no  more,  — 
Behold  him,  for  he  cannot  sleep." 

In  his  dreams  he  sees  her  whom  in  his  waking  hours  he  was 
not  permitted  to  gaze  upon. 

In  the  In  Memoriam  Tennyson  reveals  a  similar  experience 
during  his  day  dreams  : 

' '  So  word  by  word,  and  line  by  line, 

The  dead  man  touch'd  me  from  the  past, 
And  all  at  once  it  seem'd  at  last 
His  living  soul  was  flash'd  on  mine." 

She  was  buried  in  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster. 

In  1887  Mr.  George  W.  Childs  of  Philadelphia,  whose  bene- 


NOTES  239 

3tions  were  so  noble,  "every  one  a  testimony  of  peace  and 
goodwill,"  offered  to  defray  the  expense  of  a  Milton  memorial 
window  in  St.  Margaret's  Church,  and  Archdeacon  F.  W. 
Farrar,  who  was  asked  to  take  the  matter  in  charge,  wrote  the 
following  to  Mr.  Childs  :  "  Mr.  Lowell  wrote  me  a  quatrain  for 
the  Raleigh  window.  1  can  think  of  no  one  so  suitable  as  Mr. 
J.  G.  AVhittier  to  write  four  lines  for  the  Milton  window.  Mr. 
Whittier  would  feel  the  fullest  sympathy  for  the  great  Puritan 
poet,  whose  spirit  was  so  completely '  that  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers."  Mr.  Childs  forwarded  the  letter  to  Mr.  Whittier, 
who  accepted  the  invitation  and  composed  the  following  : 

"  The  new  world  honors  him  whose  lofty  plea 

For  England's  freedom  made  her  own  more  sure, 
Whose  song,  immortal  as  its  theme,  shall  be 
Their  common  freehold  while  both  worlds  endure." 

Dr.  Farrar  on  receiving  these  lines  wrote  to  Mr.  Whittier  as 
follows:  "Let  me  thank  you  for  the  four  lines  on  Milton. 
They  are  all  that  I  can  desire,  and  they  will  add  to  the  interest 
which  all  Englishmen  and  Americans  will  feel  in  the  beautiful 
Milton  window.  I  think  that  if  Milton  had  now  been  living, 
you  are  the  poet  whom  he  would  have  chosen  to  speak  of  him, 
as  being  the  poet  with  whose  whole  tone  of  mind  he  would 
have  been  most  in  sympathy." 

In  his  memorable  address  at  the  unveiling  of  this  window  Mr. 
Matthew  Arnold,  alluding  to  the  '  Anglo-Saxon  Contagion '  and 
its  effect  upon  the  ideal  of  a  high  and  rare  excellence,  said  : 
"  I  treat  the  gift  of  Mr.  Childs  as  a  gift  in  honour  of  Milton,  al- 
though the  window  given  is  in  memory  of  his  second  wife.  .  .  . 
This  fair  and  gentle  daughter  of  the  rigid  sectarist  of  Hack- 
ney, this  lovable  companion  with  whom  Milton  had  rest  and 
happiness  one  year,  is  a  part  of  Milton  indeed,  and  in  calling 
up  her  memory  we  call  up  his.  ...  If  to  our  English  race 
an  inadequate  sense  for  perfection  of  work  is  a  real  danger, 
if  the  discipline  of  respect  for  a  high  and  flawless  excellence 
is  peculiarly  needed  by  us,  Milton  is  of  all  our  gifted  men 
the  best  lesson,  the  most  salutary  influence.  In  the  sure 


240  NOTES 

and  flawless  perfection  of  his  rhythm  and  diction  he  is  as 
admirable  as  Virgil  or  Dante,  and  in  this  respect  he  is  unique 
amongst  us.  No  one  else  in  English  literature  and  art  possesses 
a'  like  distinction.  .  .  .  From  style  really  high  and  pure  Mil- 
ton never  departs.  That  Milton,  of  all  our  English  race,  is  by 
his  diction  and  rhythm  the  one  artist  of  the  highest  rank  in  the 
great  style  whom  we  have  ;  this  I  take  as  requiring  no  discus- 
sion, this  I  take  as  certain.  .  .  .  All  the  Anglo-Saxon  con- 
tagion, all  the  flood  of  Anglo-Saxon  commonness,  beats  vainly 
against  the  great  style  but  cannot  shake  it,  and  has  to  accept  its 
triumph.  But  it  triumphs  in  Milton,  in  our  own  race,  tongue, 
faith,  and  morals.  The  English  race  overspreads  the  world, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  ideal  of  an  excellence  the  most  high 
and  the  most  rare  abides  a  possession  with  it  forever." 

Mr.  Henry  Van  Dyke  says  :  "Of  woman,  woman  as  God 
meant  her  to  be,  woman  as  she  is  in  true  purity  and  unspoiled 
beauty  of  her  nature,  Milton  never  thought  otherwise  than  nobly 
and  reverently.  Surely  there  is  no  more  beautiful  and  heartfelt 
praise  of  perfect  womanhood  in  all  literature  than  this  sonnet." 

Cf.  Wordsworth's  tribute  to  his  wife  in  She  was  a  Phantom 
of  Delight: 

"  The  reason  firm,  the  temperate  will, 
Endurance,  foresight,  strength  and  skill ; 
A  perfect  woman,  nobly  planned  ; 
To  warn,  to  comfort  and  command  ; 
And  yet  a  spirit  still,  and  bright 
With  something  of  angelic  light." 

Cf.  Tennyson,  Princess  : 

"  My  wife,  my  life.    O  we  will  walk  this  world, 
Yoked  in  all  exercise  of  noble  end, 
And  so  thro'  those  dark  gates  across  the  wild 
That  no  man  knows.     Indeed  I  love  thee  :  come, 
Yield  thyself  up  :  my  hopes  and  thine  are  one  : 
Accomplish  thou  my  manhood  and  thyself ; 
Lay  thy  sweet  hands  in  mine  and  trust  to  me." 


NOTES  241 

Dedication  to  Enoch  Arden  : 

"  Dear,  near  and  true  —  no  truer  Time  himself 
Can  prove  you,  tho1  lie  make  you  evermore 
Dearer  and  nearer." 

Cromwell  died  in  August,  1658,  and  during  Richard's  Pro- 
tectorate Milton  remained  in  office.  He  wrote  the  State  papers 
and  composed  three  pamphlets.  The  first  was  A  Treatise  of 
Civil  Power  in  Ecclesiastical  Causes :  showing  that  it  is  not 
lawful  for  any  Power  on  Earth  to  compel  in  Matters  of  Re- 
ligion. In  this  he  criticised  Cromwell  for  supporting  a  State 
Church.  The  second,  Considerations  touching  the  Likeliest 
Means  to  remove  Hirelings  out  of  the  Church,  was  also  an 
attack  upon  Cromwell's  unjust  interference  in  "  free  election  of 
ministers."  These  were  both  in  the  spirit  of  Vane  and  the 
Republicans.  In  May,  1659,  Richard  abdicated,  and  on  Monk 
being  made  Dictator,  in  March,  1660,  the  third  pamphlet 
appeared.  It  was  A  Heady  and  Easy  Way  to  establish  a  Free 
Commonwealth.  Monk  and  the  Parliament  disregarded  this 
splendid  plea  for  a  Republic.  In  May  the  Restoration  came 
and  the  hunt  for  Regicides  began.  Milton  fled  from  his  home 
and  took  hiding  at  a  friend's  in  Bartholomew  Close,  until  the 
29th  of  August,  when  the  Act  of  Indemnity  was  passed.  He 
was  nevertheless  taken  into  custody  by  the  Sergeant-at-Arms, 
and  his  Defensio  and  Eikonoklastes  burned  by  the  hangman. 
He  was  released  from  custody  by  the  intercession  of  friends, 
Andrew  Marvel,  or  Sir  William  Davenant,  the  new  Poet- 
laureate. 

"  On  evil  days  now  fallen,  and  evil  tongues, 
In  darkness,  and  with  dangers  compassed  round," 

his  cause  lost,  his  enemies  in  triumph,  his  name  a  byword,  his 
fortune  impaired,  at  fifty-two  he  is  thrown  back  upon  himself, 
and  he  asks  — 

"by  which  means, 

Now  blind,  disheartened,  shamed,  dishonoured,  quelled, 
To  what  can  I  be  useful  ?     Wherein  serve 
My  nation,  and  the  work  from  Heaven  imposed  ?  " 


242  NOTES 

He  begins  to  work  upon  the  plan  that  pleased  his  boyish 
thought ;  he  is  attired  with  sudden  brightness  like  a  man  in- 
spired. Paradise  Lost,  Paradise  Regained,  Samson  Agonistes 
reveal  to  us 

44  Things  unattempted  yet  in  prose  or  rhyme." 

Lowell  says  :  "  It  is  idle  to  talk  of  the  loneliness  of  one  the 
habitual  companions  of  whose  mind  were  the  Fast  and  Future. 
I  always  seem  to  see  him  leaning  in  his  blindness  a  hand  on  the 
shoulder  of  each,  sure  that  one  will  guard  the  song  which  the 
other  had  inspired." 

44  What  though  the  music  of  thy  rustic  flute 
Kept  not  for  long  its  happy  country  tone  ; 

Lost  it  too  soon,  and  learnt  a  stormy  note 
Of  men  contention-tost,  of  men  who  groan, 

Which  task'd  thy  pipe  too  sore,  and  tired  thy  throat  — 

It  fail'd  and  thou  wast  mute  ! 
Yet  hadst  thou  always  visions  of  our  light 

And  long  with  men  of  care  thou  couldst  not  stay, 

And  soon  thy  foot  resumed  its  wandering  way, 
Left  human  haunt,  and  on  alone  till  night." 

2.  like  Alcestis,  etc.  An  allusion  to  the  Alcestis  of  Euripi- 
des, where  Hercules  rescues  the  heroine  from  the  lower  world 
and  restores  her  to  her  husband. 

"Euripides  the  human  with  his  droppings  of  warm  tears 
And  his  touching  of  things  human  'till  they  seem  to  reach 
the  spheres." 

6.   Purification.     Cf.  Leviticus  xii. 

10.  Her  face  was  veiled.  Milton  had  never  looked  upon 
her  face.  Masson  thinks  there  is  here  a  possible  allusion  to 
Alkestis  when  restored  to  Admetus. 

44  There  is  no  telling  how  the  hero  twitched 
The  veil  off." 

BROWNING,  Balaustiori's  Adventure. 


ELEGIA  PEIMA 

AD    CAROLUM    DIODATUM 

TANDEM,  chare,  tuae  mihi  pervenere  tabellse, 

Pertulit  et  voces  nuncia  charta  tuas ; 
Pertulit  occidua  Devse  Cestrensis  ab  ora 

Vergivium  prono  qua  petit  amne  salum. 
Multum,  crede,  juvat  terras  aluisse  remotas 

Pectus  amans  nostri,  tamque  fidele  caput, 
Quodque  mihi  lepidum  tellus  longinqua  sodalem 

Debet,  at  unde  brevi  redd  ere  jussa  velit. 
Me  tenet  urbs  reflua  quam  Thamesis  alluit  unda, 

Meque  nee  invitum  patria  dulcis  habet.  10 

Jam  nee  arundiferum  mihi  cura  revisere  Camum, 

Nee  dudum  vetiti  me  laris  angit  amor. 
Nuda  nee  arva  placent,  umbrasque  negantia  molles ; 

Quam  male  Phoebicolis  convenit  ille  locus ! 
Nee  duri  libet  usque  minas  perferre  Magistri, 

Cseteraque  ingenio  non  subeunda  meo. 
Si  sit  hoc  exilium,  patrios  adiisse  penates, 

Et  vacuum  curis  otia  grata  sequi, 
Non  ego  vel  profugi  nomen  sortemve  recuso, 

Lsetus  et  exilii  conditione  fruor.  20 

0  utinam  vates  nunquam  graviora  tulisset 

Ille  Tomitano  flebilis  exul  agro ; 
243 


244  ELEGIA   PRIMA 

Non  tune  lonio  quicquam  cessisset  Homero, 

Neve  foret  victo  laus  tibi  prima,  Maro. 
Tempora  nam  licet  hie  placidis  dare  libera  Musis, 

Et  totum  rapiunt  me,  mea  vita,  libri. 
Excipit  hinc  fessum  sinuosi  pompa  theatri, 

Et  vocat  ad  plausus  garrula  scena  suos. 
Seu  eatus  auditur  senior,  seu  prodigus  haeres, 

Seu  procus,  aut  posita  casside  miles  adest,  30 

Sive  decennali  fcecundus  lite  patronus 

Detonat  inculto  barbara  verba  f  oro ; 
Saepe  vafer  gnato  succurrit  servus  amanti, 

Et  nasum  rigidi  fallit  ubique  patris  ; 
Saepe  novos  illic  virgo  inirata  calores 

Quid  sit  amor  nescit,  dum  quoque  nescit  amat : 
Sive  cruentatum  furiosa  Tragoedia  sceptrum 

Quassat,  et  effusis  crinibus  ora  rotat ; 
Et  dolet,  et  specto,  juvat  et  spectasse  dolendo; 

Interdum  et  lacrymis  dulcis  amaror  inest :  40 

Seu  puer  infelix  indelibata  reliquit 

Gaudia,  et  abrupto  flendus  amore  cadit ; 
Seu  ferus  e  tenebris  iterat  Styga  criminis  ultor, 

Conscia  funereo  pectora  torre  m  ovens ; 
Seu  moeret  Pelopeia  domus,  seu  nobilis  Hi, 

Aut  luit  incestos  aula  Creontis  avos. 
Sed  neque  sub  tecto  semper  nee  in  urbe  latemus, 

Irrita  nee  nobis  tempora  veris  eunt. 
Nos  quoque  lucus  liabet  vicina  consitus  ulmo, 

Atque  suburbani  nobilis  umbra  loci  50 

Saepius  hie,  blandas  spirantia  sidera  flammas, 

Virgineos  videas  praeteriisse  chores. 
Ah  quoties  dignae  stupui  miracula  formae 

Quae  possit  senium  vel  reparare  Jovis ! 


ELEGIA   PEIMA  245 

Ah  quoties  vidi  superantia  luniina  gemmas, 

Atque  faces  quotquot  volvit  uterque  polus ; 
Collaque  bis  vivi  Pelopis  quse  brachia  vincant, 

Quseque  fiuit  puro  nectare  tincta  via, 
Et  decus  eximium  frontis,  tremulosque  capillos, 

Aurea  quee  fallax  retia  tendit  Amor ;  GO 

Pellacesque  genas,  ad  quas  hyacinthina  sordet 

Purpura,  et  ipse  tui  floris,  Adoni,  rubor ! 
Oedite  laudatse  toties  Heroides  olim, 

Et  qusecunque  vagum  cepit  arnica  Jovem ; 
Cedite  Achsemeniae  turrita  fronte  puellae, 

Et  quot  Susa  colunt,  Memnoniamque  Ninon ; 
Vos  etiam  Danase  fasces  submittite  Nymphae, 

Et  vos  Iliacae,  Romuleseque  nurus ; 
Nee  Pompeianas  Tarpeia  Musa  coliunnas 

Jactet,  et  Ausoniis  plena  theatra  stolis.  70 

Gloria  virginibus  debetur  prima  Britannis ; 

Extera  sat  tibi  sit  foemina  posse  sequi. 
Tuque  urbs  Dardaniis,  Londinumf  structa  colonis, 

Turrigerum  late  conspicienda  caput, 
Tu  nimium  felix  intra  tua  moenia  claudis 

Quicquid  formosi  pendulus  orbis  habet. 
Non  tibi  tot  cselo  scintillant  astra  sereno, 

Endymionese  turba  ministra  deae, 
Quot  tibi  conspicuae  formaque  auroque  puellse 

Per  medias  radiant  turba  videnda  vias.  8C 

Creditur  hue  geminis  venisse  invecta  columbis 

Alma  pharetrigero  milite  cincta  Venus, 
Huic  Cnidon,  et  riguas  Simoeiitis  flumine  valles, 

Hide  Paphon,  et  roseam  posthabitura  Cypron. 
Ast  ego,  dum  pueri  sinit  indulgentia  cseci, 

Moenia  quam  subito  linquere  fausta  paro  ; 


246  ELEGIA   SEXTA 

Et  vitare  procul  malefidae  infamia  Circes 

Atria,  divini  Molyos  usus  ope. 
Stat  quoque  juncosas  Cami  remeare  paludes, 

Atque  iterum  raucse  murmur  adire  Scholse.  90 

Interea  fidi  parvum  cape  munus  amici, 

Paucaque  in  alternos  verba  coacta  modos. 


ELEGIA   SEXTA 
AD  CAKOLUM    DIODATUM,  RURI  COMMORANTEM  ; 

Qiti,  cum  Tdibus  Decent!),  scripsisset,  et  sua  carmina  excusari  postuldsset 
si  solito  minus  essent  bo?ia,  quod  inter  lautitias  quibuz  erat  ab  am-icia 
exceptus  fiaud  satis  felicem  operam  Musis  dare  se  posse  affirmabat, 
hoc  habuit  responsum. 

MITTO  tibi  sanam  non  pleno  ventre  salutem, 

Qua  tu  distento  forte  carere  potes. 
At  tua  quid  nostram  prolectat  Musa  camoenam, 

Nee  sinit  optatas  posse  sequi  tenebras  ? 
Carmine  scire  velis  quam  te  redamemque  colamque ; 

Crede  mihi  vix  hoc  carmine  scire  queas. 
Nam  neque  noster  amor  modulis  encluditur  arctis, 

Nee  venit  ad  claudos  integer  ipse  pedes. 
Quam  bene  solennes  epulas,  hilaremque  Decembrim, 

Festaque  cselifugam  quse  coluere  Deum,  10 

Deliciasque  refers,  hiberni  gaudia  ruris, 

Haustaque  per  lepidos  Gallica  musta  focos  ! 
Quid  quereris  refugam  vino  dapibusque  poesin  ? 

Carmen  amat  Bacchum,  carmina  Bacchus  amat. 


EL  EG  I  A   SEXTA 


247 


Nee  puduit  Phoebum  virides  gestasse  corymbos, 

Atque  hederam  lauro  prseposuisse  suse. 
Ssepius  Aoniis  clamavit  collibus  Euce 

Mista  Thyoneo  turba  novena  choro. 
Naso  Corallseis  mala  carmina  misit  ab  agris ; 

Non  illic  epulae,  non  sata  vitis  erat.  20 

Quid  nisi  vina,  rosasque,  raceraiferumque  Lyaeum, 

Cantavit  brevibus  Teia  Musa  modis  ? 
Pindaricosque  inflat  numeros  Teumesius  Euan, 

Et  redolet  sumptum  pagina  quaeque  merum ; 
Dum  gravis  everso  currus  crepat  axe  supinus, 

Et  volat  Eleo  pulvere  fuscus  eques. 
Quadrimoque  madens  Lyricen  Romanus  laccho 

Dulce  canit  G-lyceran,  flavicomamque  Chloen. 
Jam  quoque  lauta  tibi  generoso  mensa  paratu 

Mentis  alit  vires,  ingeniumque  fovet.  30 

Massica  foecundam  despumant  pocula  venam, 

Fundis  et  ex  ipso  condita  metra  cado. 
Addiinus  his  artes,  fustimque  per  intima  Phoebum 

Corda ;  favent  uni  Bacchus,  Apollo,  Ceres. 
Scilicet  baud  mirum  tarn  dulcia  carmina  per  te, 

Numine  composite,  tres  peperisse  Deos. 
Nunc  quoque  Thressa  tibi  caelato  barbitos  auro 

Insonat  argua  molliter  icta  manu ; 
Auditurque  chelys  suspensa  tapetia  circum, 

Virgineos  tremula  quae  regat  arte  pedes.  40 

Ilia  tuas  saltern  teneant  spectacula  Musas, 

Et  revocent  quantum  crapula  pellit  iners. 
Crede  mihi,  dum  psallit  ebur,  comitataque  plectrum 

Implet  odoratos  festa  chorea  tholos, 
Percipies  taciturn  per  pectora  serpere  Phoebum, 

Quale  repentinus  permeat  ossa  calor ; 


248  ELEGIA   SEXTA 

Perque  puellares  oculos  digitumque  sonantem 

Irruet  in  totos  lapsa  Thalia  sinus. 
Namque  Elegia  levis  multorum  cura  deorum  est, 

Et  vocat  ad  numeros  quemlibet  ilia  suos ;  50 

Liber  adest  elegis,  Eratoque,  Ceresque,  Venusque, 

Et  cum  purpurea  matre  tenellus  Amor. 
Talibus  inde  licent  coiivivia  larga  poetis, 

Saepius  et  veteri  commaduisse  mero. 
At  qui  bella  refert,  et  adulto  sub  Jove  cselum, 

Heroasque  pios,  semideosque  duces, 
Et  nunc  sancta  canit  superum  consulta  deorum, 

Nunc  latrata  fero  regna  profunda  cane, 
Ille  quidem  parce,  Samii  pro  more  magistri, 

Vivat,  et  innocuos  prsebeat  herba  cibos  ;  60 

Stet  prope  fagineo  pellucida  lympha  catillo, 

Sobriaque  e  puro  pocula  fonte  bibat. 
Additur  huic  scelerisque  vacans  et  casta  juventus, 

Et  rigidi  mores,  et  sine  labe  inanus ; 
Qualis  veste  nitens  sacra,  et  lustralibus  undis, 

Surgis  ad  infensos  augur  iture  Deos. 
Hoc  ritu  vixisse  ferunt  post  rapa  sagacem 

Lumina  Tiresian,  Ogygiumque  Linon, 
Et  lare  devoto  profugum  Calchanta,  senemque 

Orpheon  edomitis  sola  per  antra  feris  ;  70 

Sic  dapis  exiguus,  sic  rivi  potor  Homerus 

Dulichium  vexit  per  freta  longa  virum, 
Et  per  monstrificam  Perseise  Phoebados  aulam, 

Et  vada  foemineis  insidiosa  sonis, 
Perque  tuas,  rex  ime,  domos,  ubi  sanguine  nigro 

Dicitur  umbrarum  detinuisse  greges  : 
Diis  etenim  sacer  est  vates,  divumque  sacerdos, 

Spirat  et  occultum  pectus  et  ora  Jovem. 


ELEGIA    SEXTA  249 


At  tu  si  quid  agam  scitabere  (si  modo  saltern 

Esse  putas  tanti  noscere  siquid  agam).  80 

Paciferum  canimus  caelesti  semine  regem, 

Faustaque  sacratis  ssecula  pacta  libris  ; 
Vagitumque  Dei,  et  stabulantem  paupere  tecto 

Qui  suprema  suo  cum  patre  regna  colit ; 
Stelliparumque  polum,  modulantesque  sethere  turmas, 

Et  subito  elisos  ad  sua  faiia  Deos. 
Dona  quidem  dedimus  Christi  natalibus  ilia ; 

Ilia  sub  auroram  lux  mihi  prima  tulit. 
Te  quoque  pressa  manent  patriis  meditata  cicutis ; 

Tu  mihi,  cui  recitem,  judicis  instar  eris.  90 


DIODATI  (e  te  '1  diro  con  maraviglia), 

Quel  ritroso  io,  ch'  amor  spreggiar  solea 

E  de'  suoi  lacci  spesso  mi  ridea, 

Gia  caddi,  ov'  uom  dabben  talor  s'*  impiglia. 

Ne  treccie  d'  oro  ne  guancia  vermiglia 
M'  abbaglian  si,  ma  sotto  nova  idea 
Pellegrina  bellezza  che  '1  cuor  bea, 
Portamenti  alti  onesti,  e  nelle  ciglia 

Quel  sereno  fulgor  d'  amabil  nero, 

Parole  adorne  di  lingua  piu  d'una,  10 

E  '1  cantar  che  di  mezzo  1'  emispero 

Traviar  ben  puo  la  faticosa  Luna  ; 

E  degli  occhi  suoi  avventa  si  gran  fuoco 
Che  T  incerar  gli  orecchi  mi  fia  poco. 


250  EPITAPHIUM  DAMONIS 


EPITAPHIUM   DAMONIS 

ARGUMENTUM 

THYRSIS  et  DAMON,  ejusdem  viciniae  pastores,  eadem  studia  sequuti,  a  pueritia 
amici  erant,  ut  qui  plurimum.  THYRSIS,  aniini  causal  profectus,  peregre 
de  obitu  DAMONIS  rnuncium  accepit.  Domum  postea  reversus,  et  rem  ita 
esse  comperto,  se  suamque  solitudinem  hoc  carmine  deplorut.  DAMONIS 
autem  sub  persona  hie  intelligitur  CAROLUS  DEODATITS,  ex  urbe  Hetrurite 
Luca  paterno  genere  oriundus,  caetera  Anglus ;  ingenio,  doctrina,  clarissi- 
misque  cseteris  virtutibus,  dum  viveret,  juvenis  egregius. 

HIMERIDES  Nymphse  (nam  vos  et  Daphnin  et  Hylan, 
Et  plorata  diu  meministis  fata  Bionis), 
Dicite  Sicelicum  Thamesina  per  oppida  carmen : 
Quas  miser  effudit  voces,  quse  murmura  Thyrsis, 
Et  quibus  assiduis  exercuit  antra  querelis, 
Fluminaque,  fontesque  vagos,  nemorumque  recessus, 
Dum  sibi  prserepturn  queritur  Damona,  neque  altam 
Luctibus  exemit  noctem,  loca  sola  pererrans. 
Et  jam  bis  viridi  surgebat  culmus  arista, 
Et  totidem  flavas  numerabant  horrea  messes,  10 

Ex  quo  summa  dies  tulerat  Damona  sub  umbras, 
]S~ec  dum  aderat  Thyrsis ;  pastorem  scilicet  ilium 
Dulcis  amor  Musse  Thusca  retinebat  in  urbe. 
Ast  ubi  mens  expleta  domum  pecorisque  relicti 
Cura  vocat,  simul  assueta  seditque  sub  ulmo, 
Turn  vero  amissum,  turn  denique,  seritit  ainicum, 
Ccepit  et  immensum  sic  exonerare  dolorem  :  — 

"Ite  domum  impasti;  domino  jam  non  vacat,  agni. 
Hei  mini !  quse  terris,  quse  dicam  numina  caelo, 
Postquam  te  immiti  rapuerunt  f unere,  Damon  ?         20 
Siccine  nos  linquis  ?  tua  sic  sine  nomine  virtus 
Ibit,  et  obscuris  numero  sociabitur  umbris  ? 


EPITAPHIUM  DAMONIS  251 

At  non  ille  animas  virga  qui  dividit  aurea 
Ista  velit,  dignumque  tui  te  ducat  in  agmen, 
Ignavumque  procul  pecus  arceat  omne  silentum. 

"  Ite  domuni  impasti ;  domino  jam  non  vacat,  agni. 
Quicquid  erit,  certe,  nisi  me  lupus  ante  videbit, 
Indeplorato  non  comniinuere  sepulchre, 
Constabitque  tuns  tibi  honos,  longumque  vigebit 
Inter  pastores.     Illi  tibi  vota  secundo  30 

Solvere  post  Daphnin,  post  Daphnin  dicere  laudes, 
Gaudebunt,  dum  rura  Pales,  dum  Faunus  amabit ; 
Si  quid  id  est,  priscamque  fidem  coluisse,  piumque, 
Palladiasque  artes,  sociumque  habuisse  canorum. 

alte  domum  impasti;  domino  jam  non  vocat,  agni. 
Haec  tibi  certa  manent,  tibi  erunt  hsec  prsemia,  Damon. 
At  niihi  quid  tandem  net  modo  ?  quis  mihi  fidus 
Hserebit  lateri  comes,  ut  tu  ssepe  solebas, 
Frigoribus  duris,  et  per  loca  foeta  pruinis, 
Aut  rapido  sub  sole,  siti  morientibus  herbis,  40 

Sive  opus  in  magnos  fuit  eminus  ire  leones, 
Aut  avido  terrere  lupos  prsesepibus  altis  ? 
Quis  fando  sopire  diem  cantuque  solebit  ? 

"  Ite  domum  impasti ;  domino  jam  non  vacat,  agni. 
Pectora  cui  credam  ?  quis  me  lenire  docebit 
Mordaces  curas,  quis  longam  fallere  noctem 
Dulcibus  alloquiis,  grato  cum  sibilat  igni 
Molle  pirum,  et  nucibus  strepitat  focus,  at  malus  Auster 
Miscet  cuncta  foris,  et  desuper  intonat  ulmo  ? 

"  Ite  domum  impasti ;  domino  jam  non  vacat,  agni. 
Aut  sestate,  dies  medio  dum  vertitur  axe,  51 

Cum  Pan  aesculea  somnum  capit  abditus  umbra, 
Et  repetuiit  sub  aquis  sibi  nota  sedilia  Nymphae, 
Pastoresque  latent,  stertit  sub  sepe  colonus, 


252  EPITAPHIUM  DAMONIS 

Quis  mihi  blanditiasque  tuas,  quis  turn  mihi  risus, 
Cecropiosque  sales  referet,  cultosque  lepores  ? 

"  Ite  domum  impasti ;  domino  jam  non  vacat,  agni. 
At  jam  solus  agros,  jam  pascua  solus  oberro, 
Sicubi  ramose  densantur  vallibus  umbrae ; 
Hie  serum  expecto ;  supra  caput  imber  et  Eurus        60 
Triste  sonant,  fractseque  agitata  crepuscula  silvse. 

"Ite  domum  impasti;  domino  jam  non  vacat,  agni. 
Heu !  quam  culta  mihi  prius  arva  procacibus  herbis 
Involvuntur,  et  ipsa  situ  seges  alta  fatiscit ! 
Innuba  neglecto  marcescit  et  uva  racemo, 
Nee  myrteta  juvant ;  ovium  quoque  taedet,  at  ille 
Moerent,  inque  suum  convertunt  ora  magistrum. 

"Ite  domum  impasti;  domino  jam  non  vacat,  agni. 
Tityrus  ad  corylos  vocat,  Alpliesiboeus  ad  ornos, 
Ad  salices  ^Egon,  ad  flumina  pulcher  Amyntas :         70 
'  Hie  gelidi  f ontes,  hie  illita  gramina  musco, 
Hie  Zephyri,  hie  placidas  interstrepit  arbutus  undas.' 
Ista  canunt  surdo ;  frutices  ego  nactus  abibam. 

"Ite  domum  impasti;  domino  jam  non  vacat,  agni. 
Mopsus  ad  hsec,  nam  me  redeuntem  forte  notarat 
(Et  callebat  avium  linguas  et  sidera  Mopsus), 
'  Thyrsi,  quid  hoc  ? '  dixit ; '  quse  te  coquit  improbabilis  ? 
Aut  te  perdit  amor,  aut  te  male  fascinat  astrum ; 
Saturni  grave  saepe  fuit  pastoribus  astrum, 
Intimaque  obliquo  figit  prsecordia  plumbo.'  80 

"Ite  domum  impasti;  domino  jam  non  vacat,  agni. 
Mirantur  nymphaa,  et  ( Quid  te,  Thyrsi,  futurum  est  ? 
Quid  tibi  vis  ?  '  aiunt :  '  non  hsec  solet  esse  juventse 
Nubila  frons,  oculique  truces,  vultusque  sever! : 
Ilia  choros,  lususque  leves,  et  semper  amorem 
Jure  petit ;  bis  ille  miser  qui  serus  amavit.' 


EPITAPI1IUM  DAMONIS  253 

"  Ite  domum  impasti ;  domino  jam  non  vacat,  agni. 
Venit  Hyas,  Dryopeque,  et  filia  Baucidis  -53gle, 
Docta  modos,  citharseque  sciens,  sed  perdita  fastu ; 
Venit  Idumanii  Chloris  vincina  fluenti:  90 

Nil  me  blanditise,  nil  me  solantia  verba, 
Nil  me  si  quid  adest  movet,  aut  spes  ulla  futuri. 

"Ite  domum  impasti ;  domino  jam  non  vacat,  agni. 
Hei  mihi !  quam  similes  ludunt  per  prata  juvenci, 
Omnes  unanimi  secum  sibi  lege  sodales ! 
Nee  magis  hunc  alio  quisquam  secernit  amicum 
De  grege ;  sic  densi  veniunt  ad  pabula  thoes, 
Inque  vicem  hirsuti  paribus  junguntur  onagri : 
Lex  eadem  pelagi ;  deserto  in  littore  Proteus 
Agmina  phocarum  numerat :  vilisque  volucrum         100 
Passer  habet  semper  quicum  sit,  et  omnia  circum 
Farra  libens  volitet,  sero  sua  tecta  revisens ; 
Quern  si  sors  letho  objecit,  seu  milvus  adunco 
Fata  tulit  rostro,  seu  stravit  arundine  fossor, 
Protinus  ille  alium  socio  petit  hide  volatu. 
Nos  durum  genus,  et  diris  exercita  fatis 
Gens,  homines,  aliena  animis,  et  pectore  discors ; 
Vix  sibi  quisque  parem  de  millibus  invenit  unum ; 
Aut,  si  sors  dederit  tandem  non  aspera  votis, 
Ilium  inopina  dies,  qua  non  speraveris  hora,  110 

Surripit,  aeternum  linquens  in  ssecula  damnum. 

"Ite  domum  impasti;  domino  jam  non  vacat,  agni. 
Heu !  quis  me  ignotas  traxit  vagus  error  in  oras 
Ire  per  ae'reas  rupes,  Alpemque  nivosam  ? 
Ecquid  erat  tanti  Romam  vidisse  sepultam 
(Quamvis  ilia  foret,  qualem  dum  viseret  olim 
Tityrus  ipse  suas  et  oves  et  rura  reliquit), 
Ut  te  tarn  dulci  possem  caruisse  sodale, 


254  EPITAPHIUM  DAMONIS 

Possem  tot  maria  alta,  tot  interponere  montes, 

Tot  silvas,  tot  saxa  tibi,  fluviosque  sonantes  ?  120 

Ah !  certe  extremum  licuisset  tangere  dextram, 

Et  bene  compositos  placide  morientis  ocellos, 

Et  dixisse  '  Vale !  nostri  memor  ibis  ad  astra.' 

"Ite  domum  impasti ;  domino  jam  non  vacat,  agni. 
Quamquam  etiam  vestri  nunquain  meminisse  pigebit, 
Pastores  Thusci,  Musis  operata  juventus, 
Hie  Charis,  atque  Lepos  ;  et  Thuscus  tu  quoque  Damon, 
Antiqua  genus  unde  petis  Lucumonis  ab  urbe. 
0  ego  quantus  eram,  gelidi  cum  stratus  ad  Ami 
Murmura,  populeumque  nemus,  qua  mollior  herba,   130 
Carpere  nunc  violas,  nunc  summas  earpere  myrtos, 
Et  potui  Lycidse  certantem  audire  Menalcam ! 
Ipse  etiam  tentare  ausus  sum ;  nee  puto  multum 
Displicui ;  nam  sunt  et  apud  me  munera  vestra, 
Fiscellse,  calathique,  et  cerea  vincla  cicutae  : 
Quin  et  nostra  suas  docuerunt  nomina  fagos 
Et  Datis  et  Francinus ;  erant  et  vocibus  ambo 
Et  studiis  noti,  Lydorum  sanguinis  ambo. 

"Ite  domum  impasti;  domino  jam  non  vacat,  agni. 
Hsec  mini  turn  Iseto  dictabat  roscida  luna,  140 

Dum  solus  teneros  claudebam  cratibus  hoedos. 
Ah !  quoties  dixi,  cum  te  ciiiis  ater  habebat, 
'  Nunc  canit,  aut  lepori  nunc  tendit  retia  Damon ; 
Vimina  nunc  texit  varios  sibi  quod  sit  in  usus ' ; 
Et  quse  turn  facili  sperabam  mente  futura 
Arripui  voto  levis,  et  prsesentia  finxi. 
'  Heus  bone  !  numquid  agis  ?  nisi  te  quid  forte  retardat, 
Irnus,  et  arguta  paulum  recubamus  in  umbra, 
Aut  ad  aquas  Colni,  aut  ubi  jugera  Cassibelauni  ? 
Tu  mild  percurres  medicos,  tua  gramina,  succos,       150 


EP1TAPHIUM  DAMONIS  255 


Lumque,  humilesque,  crocos,  foliumque  hyacin- 

Quasque  liabet  ista  palus  herbas,  artesque  medentum.' 
Ah  !  pereant  herbae,  pereant  artesque  medentum, 
Gramma,  postqiiani  ipsi  nil  profecere  magistro ! 
Ipse  etiam  —  namnescio  quid  mihi  grande  sonabat 
Fistula —  ab  undecima  jam  lux  est  altera  nocte  — 
Et  turn  forte  novis  admoram  labra  cicutis  : 
Dissiluere  tamen,  rupta  compage,  nee  ultra 
Ferre  graves  potuere  sonos  :  dubito  quoque  ne  sim 
Turgidulus;  tameii-et  ref eram  ;  vos  cedite,  sylvae.    160 

"Ite  domuin  impasti;  domino  jam  non  vacat,  agni. 
Ipse  ego  Dardanias  Rutupina  per  sequora  puppes 
Dicam,  et  Pandrasidos  regnum  vetus  Inogeniae, 
Brennumque  Arviragumque  duces,  priscumque  Beli- 

num, 

Et  tandem  Armoricos  Britonum  sub  lege  colonos ; 
Turn  gravidam  Arturo  fatali  fraude  logernen; 
Mendaces  vultus,  assumptaque  Gorlois  arma, 
Meiiini  dolus.     0,  mihi  turn  si  vita  supersit, 
Tu  procul  annosa  pendebis,  fistula,  pinu 
Multum  oblita  mihi,  aut  patriis  mutata  Camcenis      170 
Brittonicum  strides  !  Quid  enim  ?  omnia  non  licet  uni, 
ISTon  sperasse  uni  licet  omnia ;  mi  satis  ampla 
Merces,  et  mihi  grande  decus  (sim  ignotus  in  sevum 
Turn  licet,  externo  penitusque  inglorius  orbi), 
Si  me  flava  comas  legat  Usa,  et  potor  Alauni, 
Vorticibusque  frequens  Abra,  et  nemus  omne  Treantse, 
Et  Thamesis  meus  ante  omnes,  et  fusca  metallis 
Tamara,  et  extremis  me  discant  Orcades  undis. 

"Ite  domuin  impasti;  domino  jam  non  vacat,  agni. 
Heec  tibi  servabam  lenta  sub  cortice  lauri,  180 


256  EPITAPHIUM  DAMONIS 

Haec,  et  plura  simul ;  turn  quae  mihi  pocula  Mansus, 

Mansus,  Chalcidicse  non  ultima  gloria  ripae, 

Bina  dedit,  mirnm  artis  opus,  mirandus  et  ipse, 

Et  circum  gemino  caelaverat  argumento. 

In  medio  Rubri  Maris  unda,  et  odoriferum  ver, 

Littora  longa  Arabum,  et  sudantes  balsama  sylvae ; 

Has  inter  Phoenix,  divina  avis,  unica  terris, 

Cseruleum  fulgens  diversicoloribus  alis, 

Auroram  vitreis  surgentem  respicit  undis  ; 

Parte  alia  polus  omnipatens,  et  magims  Olympus :    190 

Quis   putet?     hie   quoque   Amor,    pictaeque   in   nube 

pharetrae, 

Arma  corusca,  faces,  et  spicula  tincta  pyropo ; 
Nee  tenues  animas,  pectusque  ignobile  vulgi, 
Hinc  ferit ;  at,  circuin  flammantia  lumina  torquens, 
Semper  in  erectum  spargit  sua  tela  per  orbes 
Impiger,  et  pronos  nunquam  collimat  ad  ictus : 
Hinc  mentes  ardere  sacrae,  formaeque  deorum. 

"Tu  quoque  in  his  —  nee  me   fallit   spes   lubrica, 

Damon  — 

Tu  quoque  in  his  certe  es ;  nam  quo  tua  dulcis  abiret 
Sanctaque  simplicitas  ?  nam  quotua  Candida  virtus  ?  200 
Nee  te  Lethaeo  fas  quaesivisse  sub  Oreo ; 
Nee  tibi  conveniunt  lacrymae,  nee  flebimus  ultra. 
Ite  procul,  lacrymae;  purum  colit  aethera  Damon, 
^Ethera  purus  habet,  pluvium  pede  reppulit  arcum ; 
Heroumque  animas  inter,  divosque  perrennes, 
^Ethereos  haurit  latices  et  gaudia  potat 
Ore  sacro.     Quin  tu,  caeli  post  jura  recepta, 
Dexter  ades,  placidusque  fave,  quicunque  vocaris ; 
Seu  tu  noster  eris  Damon,  sive  aequior  audis 
DIOI>OTUS?  quo  te  divino  nomine  cuncti  210 


EPITAPH1UM  DAMONIS  257 

Caelicolse  norint,  sylvisque  vocabere  Damon. 
Quod  tibi  purpureus  pudor,  et  sine  labe  juventus 
Grata  fuit,  quod  nulla  tori  libata  voluptas, 
En  !  etiam  tibi  virginei  servantur  honores  ! 
Tpse,  caput  nitidum  cinctus  rutilante  corona, 
Laetaque  frondentis  gestans  umbracula  palmse, 
Sternum  perages  immortales  hymenseos, 
Cantus  ubi,  choreisque  furit  lyra  mista  beatis, 
Festa  Sionseo  bacchantur  et  Orgia  thyrso." 


258  TRANSLATION 

ELEGY  I 
To   CHAKLES   DEODATI 

AT  length,  my  friend,  the  far-sent  letters  come, 

Charged  with  thy  kindness,  to  their  destined  home; 

They  come,  at  length,  from  Deva's  western  side, 

Where  prone  she  seeks  the  salt  Vergivian  tide. 

Trust  me,  my  joy  is  great  that  thou  shouldst  be, 

Though  born  of  foreign  race,  yet  born  for  me, 

And  that  my  sprightly  friend,  now  free  to  roam, 

Must  seek  again  so  soon  his  wonted  home. 

I  well  content,  where  Thames  with  influent  tide 

My  native  city  laves,  meantime  reside,  10 

Nor  zeal  nor  duty  now  my  steps  impel 

To  reedy  Cam,  and  my  forbidden  cell. 

Nor  aught  of  pleasure  in  those  fields  have  I, 

That,  to  the  musing  bard,  all  shade  deny. 

'Tis  time  that  I  a  pedant's  threats  disdain, 

And  fly  from  wrongs  my  soul  will  ne'er  sustain. 

If  peaceful  days,  in  lettered  leisure  spent 

Beneath  my  father's  roof,  be  banishment, 

Then  call  me  banished,  I  will  ne'er  refuse 

A  name  expressive  of  the  lot  I  chuse.  20 

I  would  that,  exiled  to  the  Pontic  shore, 

Koine's  hapless  bard  had  suffered  nothing  more; 

He  then  had  equalled  even  Homer's  lays, 

And  Virgil!  thou  hadst  won  but  second  praise. 

For  here  I  woo  the  Muse,  with  no  control ; 

And  here  my  books  —  my  life  —  absorb  me  whole. 

Here  too  I  visit,  or  to  smile,  or  weep, 

The  winding  theatre's  majestic  sweep; 


ELEGY  I  259 

The  grave  or  gay  colloquial  scene  recruits 
My  spirits,  spent  in  learning's  long  pursuits,  so 

Whether  some  senior  shrewd,  or  spendthrift  heir, 
Suitor,  or  soldier  now  unarmed,  be  there; 
Or  some  coifed  brooder  o'er  a  ten  years'  cause 
Thunder  the  Norman  gibberish  of  the  laws. 
The  lacquey  there  oft  dupes  the  wary  sire, 
And  artful  speeds  the  enamoured  son's  desire. 
There,  virgins  oft,  unconscious  what  they  prove, 
What  love  is  know  not,  yet,  unknowing,  love. 
Or  if  impassioned  Tragedy  wield  high 
The  bloody  sceptre,  give  her  locks  to  fly  40 

Wild  as  the  winds,  and  roll  her  haggard  eye, 
I  gaze,  and  grieve,  still  cherishing  my  grief, 
At  times  even  bitter  tears  yield  sweet  relief: 
As  when,  from  bliss  untasted  torn  away, 
Some  youth  dies,  hapless,  on  his  bridal  day ;  — 
Or  when  the  ghost,  sent  back  from  shades  below, 
Fills  the  assassin's  heart  with  vengeful  woe, 
When  Troy,  or  Argos,  the  dire  scene  affords, 
Or  Creon's  hall  laments  its  guilty  lords. 
Nor  always  city-pent,  or  pent  at  home,  50 

I  dwell;  but  when  spring  calls  me  forth  to  roam, 
Expatiate  in  our  proud  suburban  shades 
Of  branching  elm,  that  never  sun  pervades. 
Here  many  a  virgin  troop  I  may  descry, 
Like  stars  of  mildest  influence,  gliding  by. 
Oh  forms  divine !     Oh  looks  that  might  inspire 
Even   Jove    himself,    grown    old,    with    young    de- 
sire! 

Oft  have  I  gazed  on  gem-surpassing  eyes, 
Outsparkling  every  star  that  gilds  the  skies, 


260  TEA  NSL  A  TION 

N"ecks  whiter  than  the  ivory  arm  bestowed  60 

By  Jove  on  Pelops,  or  the  Milky  Boad ! 

Bright  locks,  Love's  golden  snare!  these  falling  low, 

Those  playing  wanton  o'er  the  graceful  brow ! 

Cheeks  too,  more  winning  sweet  than  after  shower 

Adonis  turned  to  Flora's  favourite  flower! 

Yield,  heroines,  yield,  and  ye  who  shared  the  embrace 

Of  Jupiter  in  ancient  times,  give  place ! 

Give  place,  ye  turbaned  fair  of  Persia's  coast! 

And  ye,  not  less  renowned,  Assyria's  boast! 

Submit,  ye  nymphs  of  Greece!  ye,  once  the  bloom    70 

Of  Ilion !  and  all  ye  of  haughty  Borne, 

Who  swept,  of  old,  her  theatres  with  trains 

Bedundant,  and  still  live  in  classic  strains! 

To  British  damsels  beauty's  palm  is  due; 

Aliens!  to  follow  them  is  fame  for  you. 

0  city,  founded  by  Dardanian  hands, 

Whose  towering  front  the  circling  realms  commands, 

Too  blest  abode !  no  loveliness  we  see 

In  all  the  earth,  but  it  abounds  in  thee. 

The  virgin  multitude  that  daily  meets  80 

Badiant  with  gold  and  beauty,  in  thy  streets, 

Outnumbers  all  her  train  of  starry  fires, 

With  which  Diana  gilds  thy  lofty  spires. 

Fame  says,  that  wafted  hither  by  her  doves, 

With  all  her  host  of  quiver-bearing  loves, 

Venus,  preferring  Paphian  scenes  no  more, 

Has  fixed  her  empire  on  thy  nobler  shore. 

But  lest  the  sightless  boy  inforce  my  stay, 

1  leave  these  happy  walls,  while  yet  I  may. 
Immortal  Moly  shall  secure  my  heart  90 
From  all  the  sorcery  of  Circaean  art, 


ELEGY   VI  261 

And  I  will  e'en  repass  Cam's  reedy  pools 
To  face  once  more  the  warfare  of  the  schools. 
Meantime  accept  this  trifle !  rhymes  though  few, 
Yet  such  as  prove  thy  Friend's  remembrance  true! 


ELEGY  VI 
To   CHAELES   DEODATI 

Who,  while  he  spent  his  Christmas  in  the  country,  sent  the  Author 
a  poetical  Epistle,  in  which  he  requested  that  his  verses,  if  not  so 
good  as  usual,  might  be  excused  on  account  of  the  many  feasts  to 
which  his  friends  had  invited  him,  and  which  would  not  allow 
him  leisure  to  finish  them  as  he  wished. 

WITH  no  rich  viands  overcharged,  I  send 

Health,   which   perchance   you  want,    my   pampered 

friend ; 

But  wherefore  should  thy  muse  tempt  mine  away 
From  what  she  loves,  from  darkness  into  day  ? 
Art  thou  desirous  to  be  told  how  well 
I  love  thee,  and  in  verse  ?  verse  cannot  tell, 
For  verse  has  bounds,  and  must  in  measure  move 
But  neither  bounds  nor  measure  knows  my  love. 
How  pleasant,  in  thy  lines  described,  appear 
December's  harmless  sports,  and  rural  cheer!  10 

French  spirits  kindling  with  cserulean  fires, 
And  all  such  gambols  as  the  time  inspires ! 

Think  not  that  wine  against  good  verse  offends ; 
The  Muse  and  Bacchus  have  been  always  friends, 
Nor  Phoebus  blushes  sometimes  to  be  found 
With  ivy,  rather  than  with  laurel,  crowned. 


262  TRANSLATION 

The  Nine  themselves  ofttimes  have  joined  the  song 

And  revels  of  the  Bacchanalian  throng; 

Not  even  Ovid  could  in  Scythian  air 

Sing  sweetly  —  why  ?  no  vine  would  flourish  there,  20 

What  in  brief  numbers  sung  Anacreon's  muse  ? 

Wine,  and  the  rose,  that  sparkling  wine  bedews. 

Pindar  with  Bacchus  glows  —  his  every  line 

Breathes  the  rich  fragrance  of  inspiring  wine, 

While,  with  loud  crash  overturned,  the  chariot  lies 

And  brown  with  dust  the  fiery  courser  flies. 

The  Roman  lyrist  steeped  in  wine  his  lays, 

So  sweet  in  Glycera's  and  Chloe's  praise. 

Now  too  the  plenteous  feast  and  mantling  bowl 

Nourish  the  vigour  of  thy  sprightly  soul ;  30 

The  flowing  goblet  makes  thy  numbers  flow, 

And  casks  not  wine  alone,  but  verse  bestow. 

Thus  Phoebus  favours,  and  the~arts  attend, 

Whom  Bacchus,  and  whom  Ceres,  both  befriend: 

What  wonder,  then,  thy  verses  are  so  sweet, 

In  which  these  triple  powers  so  kindly  meet  ? 

The  lute  now  also  sounds,  with  gold  inwrought, 

And  touched  with  flying  fingers,  nicely  taught; 

In  tapestried  halls,  high-roofed,  the  sprightly  lyre 

Directs  the  dancers  of  the  virgin  choir.  40 

If  dull  repletion  fright  the  muse  away, 

Sights,  gay  as  these,  may  more  invite  her  stay: 

And,  trust  me,  while  the  ivory  keys  resound, 

Fair  damsels  sport,  and  perfumes  steam  around, 

Apollo's  influence,  like  ethereal  flame, 

Shall  animate,  at  once,  thy  glowing  frame, 

And  all  the  Muse  shall  rush  into  thy  breast, 

By  love  and  music's  blended  powers  possest. 


ELEGY  VI  263 

For  numerous  powers  light  Elegy  befriend, 

Hear  her  sweet  voice,  and  at  her  call  attend ;  50 

Her  Bacchus,  Ceres,  Venus,  all  approve, 

And,  with  his  blushing  mother,  gentle  Love. 

Hence  to  such  bards  we  grant  the  copious  use 

Of  banquets,  and  the  vine's  delicious  juice. 

But  they,  who  demi-gods  and  heroes  praise, 

And  feats  performed  in  Jove's  more  youthful  days, 

Who  now  the  counsels  of  high  heaven  explore, 

Now  shades,  that  echo  the  Cerberean  roar, 

Simply  let  these,  like  him  of  Samos,  live; 

Let  herbs  to  them  a*  bloodless  banquet  give ;  60 

In  beechen  goblets  let  their  beverage  shine, 

Cool  from  the  crystal  spring,  their  sober  wine ! 

Their  youth  should  pass  in  innocence,  secure 

From  stain  licentious,  and  in  manners  pure, 

Pure  as  the  priest,  when  robed  in  white  he  stands, 

The  fresh  lustration  ready  in  his  hands. 

Thus  Linus  lived,  and  thus,  as  poets  write, 

Tiresias,  wiser  for  his  loss  of  sight; 

Thus  exiled  Chalcas,  thus  the  bard  of  Thrace, 

Melodious  tamer  of  the  savage  race ;  70 

Thus,  trained  by  temperance,  Homer  led,  of  yore, 

His  chief  of  Ithaca  from  shore  to  shore, 

Through  magic  Circe's  monster-peopled  reign, 

And  shoals  insidious  with  the  Siren  train ; 

And  through  the  realms  where  grizly  spectres  dwell, 

Whose  tribes  he  fettered  in  a  gory  spell : 

For  these  are  sacred  bards,  and,  from  above, 

Drink  large  infusions  from  the  mind  of  Jove. 

Wouldst  thou,  (perhaps  'tis  hardly  worth  thine  ear) 
Wouldst  thou  be  told  my  occupation  here  ?  80 


264  TRANSLATION 

The  promised  King  of  peace  employs  my  pen, 
The  eternal  covenant  made  for  guilty  men, 
The  new-born  Deity  with  infant  cries 
Filling  the  sordid  hovel,  where  he  lies; 
The  hymning  Angels,  and  the  herald  star, 
That  led  the  Wise,  who  sought  him  from  afar, 
And  idols  on  their  own  unhallowed  shore 
Dashed,  at  his  birth,  to  be  revered  no  more ! 
This  theme  on  reeds  of  Albion  I  rehearse : 
The  dawn  of  that  blest  day  inspired  the  verse;          90 
Verse  that,  reserved  in  secret,  shall  attend 
Thy  candid  voice,  my  critic,  and  my  friend! 


SONNET 

TO    CHARLES    DEODATI 

CHARLES  —  and  I  say  it  wondering  —  thou  must  know 
That  I,  who  once  assumed  a  scornful  air, 
And  scoffed  at  Love,  am  fallen  in  his  snare ; 
(Full  many  an  upright  man  has  fallen  so.) 

Yet  think  me  not  thus  dazzled  by  the  flow 
Of  golden  locks,  or  damask  cheek ;  more  rare 
The  heartfelt  beauties  of  my  foreign  fair, 
A  mien  majestic,  with  dark  brows  that  show 

The  tranquil  lustre  of  a  lofty  mind; 

Words  exquisite,  of  idioms  more  than  one, 
And  song,  whose  fascinating  power  might  bind, 

And  from  her  sphere  draw  down,  the  labouring  moon ; 
With  such  fire-darting  eyes,  that  should  I  fill 
My  ears  with  wax,  she  would  enchant  me  still. 


ON   THE  DEATH  OF  DAMON  265 

ON   THE   DEATH   OF   DAMON 

AN    ARGUMENT 

Thyrsis  and  Damon,  shepherds  and  neighbours,  had  always  pur- 
sued the  same  studies,  and  had,  from  their  earliest  days,  been  united 
in  the  closest  friendship.  Thyrsis,  while  travelling  for  improve- 
ment, received  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Damon,  and,  after  a  time, 
returning  and  finding  it  true,  deplores  himself,  and  his  solitary 
condition,  in  this  poem. 

By  Damon  is  to  be  understood  Charles  Deodati,  connected  with 
the  Italian  city  of  Lucca  by  his  father's  side,  in  other  respects  an 
Englishman ;  a  youth  of  uncommon  genius,  erudition,  and  virtue. 

YE  nymphs  of  Himera  (for  ye  have  shed 

Erewhile  for  Daphnis,  and  for  Hylas  dead, 

And  over  Bion's  long-lamented  bier, 

The  fruitless  meed  of  many  a  sacred  tear), 

Now  through  the  villas  laved  by  Thames  rehearse 

The  woes  of  Thyrsis  in  Sicilian  verse, 

What  sighs  he  heaved,  and  how  with  groans  profound 

He  made  the  woods  and  hollow  rocks  resound, 

Young  Damon  dead;  nor  even  ceased  to  pour 

His  lonely  sorrows  at  the  midnight  hour.  10 

The  green  wheat  twice  had  nodded  in  the  ear 
And  golden  harvest  twice  enriched  the  year, 
Since  Damon's  lips  had  gasped  for  vital  air 
The  last,  last  time,  nor  Thyrsis  yet  was  there; 
For  he,  enamoured  of  the  Muse,  remained 
In  Tuscan  Fiorenza  long  detained, 
But,  stored  at  length  with  all  he  wished  to  learn, 
For  his  flock's  sake  now  hasted  to  return ; 
And  when  the  shepherd  had  resumed  his  seat 
At  the  elm's  root,  within  his  own  retreat,  20 


266  TRANSLATION 

Then  'twas  his  lot,  then,  all  his  loss  to  know, 

And,  from  his  burthened  heart,  he  vented  thus  his  woe : 

"  Go,  seek  your  home,  my  lambs ;  my  thoughts  are 

due 

"  To  other  cares  than  those  of  feeding  you. 
"  Alas !  what  deities  shall  I  suppose 
"  In  heaven,  or  earth,  concerned  for  human  woes, 
u  Since,  0  my  Damon !  their  severe  decree 
"  So  soon  condemns  me  to  regret  of  thee ! 
"  Departest  thou  thus,  thy  virtues  unrepaid 
"  With  fame  and  honour,  like  a  vulgar  shade  ?  30 

"  Let  him  forbid  it  whose  bright  rod  controls 
"  And  separates  sordid  from  illustrious  souls, 
"  Drive  far  the  rabble,  and  to  thee  assign 
"  A  happier  lot,  with  spirits  worthy  thine ! 

"Go,  seek  your  home,  my  lambs;   my  thoughts  are 

due 

"  To  other  cares  than  those  of  feeding  you. 
"  Whate'er  befall,  unless  by  cruel  chance 
"  The  wolf  first  give  me  a  forbidding  glance, 
"  Thou  shalt  not  moulder  undeplored,  but  long 
"  Thy  praise  shall  dwell  on  every  shepherd's  tongue;  40 
"  To  Daphnis  first  they  shall  delight  to  pay, 
"  And,  after  him,  to  thee,  the  votive  lay, 
"  While  Pales  shall  the  flocks  and  pastures  love, 
"  Or  Faunus  to  frequent  the  field  or  grove, 
"  At  least,  if  ancient  piety  and  truth, 
"  With  all  the  learned  labours  of  thy  youth, 
"May  serve  thee  aught,  or  to  have  left  behind 
"  A  sorrowing  friend,  and  of  the  tuneful  kind. 

"  Go,  seek  your  home,  my  lambs ;  my  thoughts  are  due 
"  To  other  cares  than  those  of  feeding  you.  50 


ON   THE  DEATH  OF  DAMON  267 

"  Yes,  Damon !  such  thy  sure  reward  shall  be ; 
"  But  ah,  what  doom  awaits  unhappy  me  ? 
"  Who  now  my  pains  and  perils  shall  divide 
"  As  thou  wast  wont,  for  ever  at  my  side, 
"  Both  when  the  rugged  frost  annoyed  our  feet, 
"  And  when  the  herbage  all  was  parched  with  heat ; 
"  Whether  the  grim  wolf's  ravage  to  prevent, 
"  Or  the  huge  lion's,  armed  with  darts  we  went  ? 
"  Whose  converse,  now,  shall  calm  my  stormy  day, 
"With  charming  song  who  now  beguile  my  way  ?      60 
"Go,  seek  your  home,  my  lambs;  my  thoughts  are 

due 

"  To  other  cares  than  those  of  feeding  you. 
"  In  whom  shall  I  confide  ?  whose  counsel  find 
"  A  balmy  medicine  for  my  troubled  mind  ? 
"Or  whose  discourse  with  innocent  delight 
"  Shall  fill  me  now,  and  cheat  the  wintry  night, 
"  While  hisses  on  my  hearth  the  pulpy  pear, 
"And  blackening  chestnuts  start  and  crackle  there, 
"  While  storms  abroad  the  dreary  meadows  whelm, 
"And  the  wind  thunders  through  the  neighbouring 

elm  ?  70 

"  Go,  seek  your  home,  my  lambs ;  my  thoughts  are 

due 

"  To  other  cares  than  those  of  feeding  you. 
"  Or  who,  when  summer  suns  their  summit  reach, 
"  And  Pan  sleeps  hidden  by  the  sheltering  beech, 
"When    shepherds     disappear,     nymphs     seek     the 

sedge, 

"  And  the  stretched  rustic  snores  beneath  the  hedge, 
"  Who  then  shall  render  me  thy  pleasant  vein 
"  Of  Attic  wit,  thy  jests,  thy  smiles,  again  ? 


268  TRANSLATION 

"  Go,  seek  your  home,  my  lambs ;  my  thoughts  are 

due 

"  To  other  cares  than  those  of  feeding  you.  80 

"  Where  glens  and  vales  are  thickest  overgrown 
"  With  tangled  boughs,  I  wander  now  alone, 
"Till   night    descends,    while    blustering   wind   and 

shower 
"  Beat  on  my  temples  through  the  shattered  bower. 

"Go,  seek  your  home,  my  lambs;  my  thoughts  are 

due 

"  To  other  cares  than  those  of  feeding  you. 
"  Alas !  what  rampant  weeds  now  shame  my  fields, 
"And  what  a  mildewed  crop  the  furrow  yields! 
"  My  rambling  vines,  un wedded  to  the  trees, 
"  Bear  shrivelled  grapes ;  my  myrtles  fail  to  please  j  90 
"Nor   please   me   more   my   flocks;    they,    slighted, 

turn 
"  Their  unavailing  looks  on  me,  and  mourn. 

"Go,  seek  your  home,  my  lambs;  my  thoughts  are 

due 

"  To  other  cares  than  those  of  feeding  you. 
"  JEgon  invites  me  to  the  hazel  grove, 
"  Amyntas,  on  the  river's  bank  to  rove, 
"  And  young  Alphesibceus  to  a  seat 
"  Where  branching  elms  exclude  the  mid-day  heat. 
'"Here  fountains  spring,  —  here  mossy  hillocks  rise; 
'"Here  Zephyr  whispers,  and  the  stream  replies.'  100 
"Thus  each  persuades,  but,  deaf  to  every  call, 
"I  gain  the  thickets,  and  escape  them  all. 

"  Go,  seek  your  home,  my  lambs ;  my  thoughts  are 

due 
"  To  other  cares  than  those  of  feeding  you. 


ON   THE  DEATH  OF  DAMON  269 

"  Then  Mopsus  said,  (the  same  who  reads  so  well 
"  The  voice  of  birds,  and  what  the  stars  foretell, 
"For  he  by  chance  had  noticed  my  return,) 
'"What  means  thy  sullen  mood,  this  deep  concern  ? 
"'Ah,  Thyrsis!  thou  art  either  crazed  with  love, 
"'Or  some  sinister  influence  from  above;  no 

"'Dull  Saturn's  influence  oft  the  shepherds  rue; 
"'His  leaden  shaft  oblique  has  pierced  thee  through.' 

"  Go,  go,  my  lambs,  unpastured  as  ye  are, 
"  My  thoughts  are  all  now  due  to  other  care. 
"  The  nymphs,  amazed,  my  melancholy  see, 
"And  'Thyrsis!'  cry,  'what  will  become  of  thee  ? 
"'What   wouldst    thou,    Thyrsis?    such   should   not 

appear 

"'The  brow  of  youth,  stern,  gloomy,  and  severe; 
"'Brisk  youth  should  laugh  and  love,  — ah,  shun  the 

fate 
"  'Of  those  twice  wretched  mopes  who  love  too  late! ' 

"  Go,  go,  my  lambs,  unpastured  as  ye  are ;  121 

"My  thoughts  are  all  now  due  to  other  care. 
"  JEgle  with  Hyas  came,  to  soothe  my  pain, 
"And  Baucis'  daughter,  Dryope  the  vain, 
"  Fair  Dryope,  for  voice  and  finger  neat 
"Known  far  and  near,  and  for  her  self-conceit; 
"  Chloris  too  came,  whose  cottage  on  the  lands 
"That  skirt  the  Idumanian  current  stands; 
"  But  all  in  vain  they  came,  and  but  to  see 
"  Kind  words,  and  comfortable,  lost  on  me.  130 

"  Go,  go,  my  lambs,  unpastured  as  ye  are ; 
"  My  thoughts  are  all  now  due  to  other  care. 
"  Ah,  blest  indifference  of  the  playful  herd, 
"  None  by  his  fellow  chosen  or  preferred ! 


270  TRANSLATION 

11  No  bonds  of  amity  the  flocks  enthral, 

"But  each  associates  and  is  pleased  with  all; 

"  So  graze  the  dappled  deer  in  numerous  droves, 

"And  all  his  kind  alike  the  zebra  loves; 

"  The  same  law  governs  where  the  billows  roar, 

"  And  Proteus'  shoals  o'erspread  the  desert  shore;   140 

"  The  sparrow,  meanest  of  the  feathered  race, 

"  His  fit  companion  finds  in  every  place, 

"  With  whom  he  picks  the  grain  that  suits  him  best, 

"  Flirts  here  and  there,  and  late  returns  to  rest, 

"  And  whom,  if  chance  the  falcon  make  his  prey, 

"  Or  hedger  with  his  well-aimed  arrow  slay, 

"  For  no  such  loss  the  gay  survivor  grieves, 

"New  love  he  seeks,  and  new  delight  receives. 

"  We  only,  an  obdurate  kind,  rejoice, 

"  Scorning  all  others,  in  a  single  choice.  150 

"We  scarce  in  thousands  meet  one  kindred  mind; 

"And  if  the  long-sought  good  at  last  we  find, 

"  When  least  we  fear  it,  Death  our  treasure  steals, 

"  And  gives  our  heart  a  wound  that  nothing  heals. 

"  Go,  go,  my  lambs,  unpastured  as  ye  are ; 
"My  thoughts  are  all  now  due  to  other  care. 
"  Ah,  what  delusion  lured  me  from  my  flocks, 
"To  traverse  Alpine  snows  and  rugged  rocks! 
"  What  need  so  great  had  I  to  visit  Rome, 
"  Now  sunk  in  ruins,  and  herself  a  tomb  ?  160 

"  Or,  had  she  flourished  still  as  when  of  old 
"For  her  sake  Tityrus  forsook  his  fold, 
"  What  need  so  great  had  I  to  incur  a  pause 
"  Of  thy  sweet  intercourse  for  such  a  cause, 
"  For  such  a  cause  to  place  the  roaring  sea, 
"  Rocks,  mountains,  woods,  between  my  friend  and  me? 


ON   THE  DEATH  OF  DAMON  271 

"  Else,  had  I  grasped  thy  feeble  hand,  composed 
"  Thy  decent  limbs,  thy  drooping  eyelids  closed, 
"  And,  at  the  last,  had  said  — 'Farewell,  —ascend,  — 
"  'Nor  even  in  the  skies  forget  thy  friend! '  170 

"Go,  go,  my  lambs,  untended  homeward  fare; 
"  My  thoughts  are  all  now  due  to  other  care. 
"Although  well  pleased,  ye  tuneful  Tuscan  swains! 
"  My  mind  the  memory  of  your  worth  retains, 
"  Yet  not  your  worth  can  teach  me  less  to  mourn 
"  My  Damon  lost ;  —  he  too  was  Tuscan  born, 
"Born  in  your  Lucca,  city  of  renown! 
"  And  wit  possessed,  and  genius,  like  your  own. 
"  Oh,  how  elate  was  I,  when  stretched  beside 
"  The  murmuring  course  of  Arno's  breezy  tide,        180 
"  Beneath  the  poplar  grove  I  passed  my  hours, 
"  Now  cropping  myrtles,  and  now  vernal  flowers, 
"  And  hearing,  as  I  lay  at  ease  along, 
"  Your  swains  contending  for  the  prize  of  song ! 
"  I  also  dared  attempt  (and,  as  it  seems, 
"  Not  much  displeased  attempting)  various  themes, 
"  For  even  I  can  presents  boast  from  you, 
"The  shepherd's  pipe,  and  osier  basket  too; 
"  And  Dati,  and  Francini,  both  have  made 
"  My  name  familiar  to  the  beechen  shade,  190 

"  And  they  are  learned,  and  each  in  every  place 
"  Renowned  for  song,  and  both  of  Lydian  race. 

"  Go,  go,  my  lambs,  untended  homeward  fare ; 
"  My  thoughts  are  all  now  due  to  other  care. 
"  While  bright  the  dewy  grass  with  moonbeams  shone, 
"  And  I  stood  hurdling  in  my  kids  alone, 
"  How  often  have  I  said  (but  thou  hadst  found 
"  Ere  then  thy  dark  cold  lodgment  under  ground), 


272  TRANSLATION 

"  Now  Damon  sings,  or  springes  sets  for  hares, 

"  Or  wickerwork  for  various  use  prepares !  200 

"  How  oft,  indulging  fancy,  have  I  planned 

"  New  scenes  of  pleasure  that  I  hoped  at  hand, 

"  Called  thee  abroad  as  I  was  wont,  and  cried, 

"'What,  hoa!  my  friend,  — come  lay  thy  task  aside, 

"'  Haste,  let  us  forth  together,  and  beguile 

'"The  heat  beneath  yon  whispering  shades  awhile, 

"'Or  on  the  margin  stray  of  Colne's  clear  flood, 

"'Or  where  Cassibelan's  grey  turrets  stood! 

"'There  thou  shalt  cull  me  simples,  and  shalt  teach 

"  'Thy  friend  the  name  and  healing  powers  of  each,  210 

"'From  the  tall  bluebell  to  the  dwarfish  weed, 

"'What  the  dry  land  and  what  the  marshes  breed, 

"'For  all  their  kinds  alike  to  thee  are  known, 

'"And  the  whole  art  of  Galen  is  thy  own.' 

"Ah,  perish  Galen's  art,  and  withered  be 

"  The  useless  herbs  that  gave  not  health  to  thee ! 

"Twelve  evenings  since,  as  in  poetic  dream 

"I  meditating  sat  some  statelier  theme, 

"  The  reeds  no  sooner  touched  my  lip,  though  new 

"  And  unessayed  before,  than  wide  they  flew,  220 

"Bursting  their  waxen  bands,  nor  could  sustain 

"The  deep-toned  music  of  the  solemn  strain; 

"  And  I  am  vain  perhaps,  but  I  will  tell 

"How  proud  a  theme  I  chose,  — ye  groves,  farewell! 

"Go,  go,  my  lambs,  untended  homeward  fare; 
"  My  thoughts  are  all  now  due  to  other  care. 
"  Of  Brutus,  Dardan  chief,  my  song  shall  be, 
"  How  with  his  barks  he  ploughed  the  British  sea, 
"First  from  Rutupia's  towering  headland  seen, 
"And  of  his  consort's  reign,  fair  Imogen;  230 


ON   THE  DEATH  OF  DAMON  273 

"  Of  Brennus  and  Belinus,  brothers  bold, 

"  And  of  Arviragus,  and  how  of  old 

"  Our  hardy  sires  the  Armorican  controlled, 

"  And  of  the  wife  of  Gorlo'is,  who,  surprised 

"By  Uther,  in  her  husband's  form  disguised 

"  (Such  was  the  force  of  Merlin's  art),  became 

"  Pregnant  with  Arthur  of  heroic  fame. 

"These  themes  I  now  revolve,  — and  oh,  if  Fate 

"Proportion  to  these  themes  my  lengthened  date, 

"Adieu  iny  shepherd's  reed!  yon  pine-tree  bough   240 

"  Shall  be  thy  future  home ;  there  dangle  thou 

"  Forgotten  and  disused,  unless  ere  long 

"Thou  change  thy  Latian  for  a  British  song; 

"  A  British  ?  —  even  so,  —  the  powers  of  man 

"  Are  bounded ;  little  is  the  most  he  can : 

"  And  it  shall  well  suffice  me,  and  shall  be 

"  Fame,  and  proud  recompense  enough  for  me, 

"  If  Usa,  golden-haired,  my  verse  may  learn. 

"  If  Alain  bending  o'er  his  crystal  urn, 

"  S wift- whirling  Abra, Trent's  o'ershadowed  stream,  250 

"  Thames,  lovelier  far  than  all  in  my  esteem, 

"  Tamar's  ore-tinctured  flood,  and,  after  these, 

"  The  wave-worn  shores  of  utmost  Orcades. 

"  Go,  go,  my  lambs,  untended  homeward  fare ; 
"  My  thoughts  are  all  now  due  to  other  care. 
"  All  this  I  kept  in  leaves  of  laurel-rind 
"  Enfolded  safe,  and  for  thy  view  designed 
"This,  and  a  gift  from  Manso's  hand  beside 
"(Manso,  not  least  his  native  city's  pride), 
"  Two  cups  that  radiant  as  their  giver  shone,  2CO 

"  Adorned  by  sculpture  with  a  double  zone. 
"The  spring  was  graven  there;  here  slowly  wind 


274  TRANSLATION 

"The  Red-sea  shores,  with  groves  of  spices  lined; 
"  Her  plumes  of  various  hues  amid  the  boughs 
"The  sacred,  solitary  Phoenix  shows, 
"  And,  watchful  of  the  dawn,  reverts  her  head 
"  To  see  Aurora  leave  her  watery  bed.  — 
"  In  other  part,  the  expansive  vault  above, 
"And  there  too,  even  there,  the  god  of  love; 
"  With  quiver  armed  he  mounts,  his  torch  displays  270 
"A  vivid  light,  his  gem-tipt  arrows  blaze, 
"  Around  his  bright  and  fiery  eyes  he  rolls, 
"  Nor  aims  at  vulgar  minds  or  little  souls, 
"  Nor  deigns  one  look  below,  bu.t  aiming  high 
"  Sends  every  arrow  to  the  lofty  sky ; 
"  Hence  forms  divine,  and  minds  immortal,  Itsarn 
"  The  power  of  Cupid,  and  enamoured  burn. 
"  Thou,  also,  Damon  (neither  need  I  fear 
"That  hope  delusive),  thou  art  also  there; 
"  For  whither  should  simplicity  like  thine  280 

"  Retire  ?  where  else  such  spotless  virtue  shine  ? 
"Thou    dwellest    not    (thought   profane)    in    shades 

below, 

"  Nor  tears  suit  thee ;  —  cease  then  my  tears  to  flow ! 
"  Away  with  grief,  on  Damon  ill  bestowed ! 
"Who,  pure  himself,  has  found  a  pure  abode, 
"  Has  passed  the  showery  arch,  henceforth  resides 
"  With  saints  and  heroes,  and* from  flowing  tides 
"  Quaffs  copious  immortality  and  joy, 
"  With  hallowed  lips !  —  Oh !  blest  without  alloy, 
"  And  now  enriched  with  all  that  faith  can  claim,    290 
"  Look  down,  entreated  by  whatever  name, 
"  If  Damon  please  thee  most  (that  rural  sound 
"  Shall  oft  with  echoes  fill  the  groves  around) 


ON   THE  DEATH.    OF  DAMON  275 

"  Or  if  Deodatus,  by  which  alone 

"In  those  ethereal  mansions  thou  art  known. 

"  Thy  blush  was  maiden,  and  thy  youth  the  taste 

"  Of  wedded  bliss  knew  never,  pure  and  chaste : 

"  The  honours,  therefore,  by  divine  decree 

"  The  lot  of  virgin  worth,  are  given  to  thee ; 

"  Thy  brows  encircled  with  a  radiant  band,  300 

"And  the  green  palm-branch  waving  in  thy  hand, 

"  Thou  in  immortal  nuptials  shalt  rejoice, 

"And  join  with  seraphs  thy  according  voice, 

"  Where  rapture  reigns,  and  the  ecstatic  lyre 

u  Guides  the  blest  orgies  of  the  blazing  quire." 


NOTES 

1626-1645 
ELEGY  I 

WE  have  already  alluded  to  Milton's  friendship  for  Diodati, 
which  began  at  St.  Paul's  School  (p.  115),  and  in  this  poem 
we  have  that  friendship  revealed  in  the  true  Miltonic  fashion. 
It  is  interesting  to  know  that  the  family  of  Diodati  like  that  of 
Milton  was  persecuted  for  religious  opinions.  Diodati's  uncle 
was  exiled  from  Italy  and  settled  in  Geneva,  where  he  became 
Professor  of  Hebrew,  while  his  father  came  to  England,  married 
an  English  woman,  and  practised  medicine  in  London.  There 
the  son  Charles  was  born.  The  friendship  of  Diodati  and  Mil- 
ton formed  at  St.  Paul's  was  continued  while  one  was  at  Oxford 
and  the  other  at  Cambridge.  In  their  vacations  in  London  they 
were  invariably  together. 

Their  correspondence  was  in  Latin  and  Greek,  Diodati  pre- 
ferring the  latter,  while  Milton  used  the  former.  Two  of 
Diodati's  Greek  epistles  are  now  in  the  British  Museum.  The 
first,  probably  written  in  the  vacation  of  1625,  bears  this  greet- 
ing, U9e65oros  Mi'Xrum  ev(j)patve(r8ai.  (Diodati  to  Milton,  to 
cheer  up)."  It  contains  the  following  evidence  of  the  closest 
endearment :  "So  much  do  I  long  for  your  society  that  I  am 
now  dreaming  of,  and  all  but  prophesying,  fine  weather,  and 
calm,  and  everything  golden,  for  to-morrow  that  we  may  regale 
each  other  with  the  discourses  of  philosophers  and  learned  men, 
.  .  .  air,  and  sun,  and  river,  and  trees,  and  birds,  and  men, 
will  make  holiday  with  us,  and  laugh  with  us,  and,  be  it  said 
without  offence,  dance  with  us  ...  only  you  be  ready  either 
to  start  when  I  come  for  you,  or,  without  being  called  to  come 
to  me  longing  for  you."  In  December  of  this  year  Diodati  took 
his  degree  of  B.A.  and  went  into  the  country,  as  it  is  from 

276 


NOTES  277 

Cheshire  that  the  second  of  these  Greek  letters  was  sent,  in  the 
summer  of  1626.  It  is  headed,  "6e65oros  MiXrow  x<*-PfiV  (Dio- 
dati  to  Milton  greeting)."  I  have  no  fault  to  find  with  my 
present  mode  of  life,  except  this  one,  that  I  lack  some  kindred 
spirit  to  converse  with,  and  long  for  such  an  one  ;  for  what  else 
is  wanting  when  the  days  are  long,  the  scenery  blooming  with 
flowers  and  waving  and  teeming  with  leaves,  on  every  branch 
a  nightingale  or  goldfinch  or  other  bird  delightful  with  its  songs 
and  warblings,  most  varied  walks,  a  table  neither  scant  nor 
overloaded,  and  sleep  undisturbed."  Masson  thinks  that  Mil- 
ton's first  elegy  is  written  in  reply  to  the  above  from  Diodati. 
It  was  written  during  Milton's  enforced  absence  from  Cam- 
bridge in  the  summer  of  1626,  and  is  full  of  the  most  interesting 
biographical  color.  It  reveals  that  the  truest  type  of  the  Puri- 
tan was  not  devoid  of  the  sense  of  humor.  It  is  generally 
believed  that  the  Puritans  lacked  this  sense,  but  there  are 
abundant  evidences  to  the  contrary. 

3.  Deva's  western  side.     The  Dee   was  the  old  boundary 
between  England  and  Wales.     Diodati  was  in  Cheshire  near 
Chester. 

4.  Vergivian  tide.     The  Irish  Sea. 

7,  8.  now  free  to  roam,  etc.  Milton  seems  delighted  that 
Diodati  can  be  in  the  country. 

12.  my  forbidden  cell.  His  rooms  in  St.  John's  College, 
Cambridge,  from  which  he  is  temporarily  exiled. 


Among  the  band  of  my  compeers  was  one 
Whom  chance  had  stationed  in  the  very  room 
Honored  by  Milton's  name." 

WORDSWORTH,  Prelude,  iii.  293-295. 


22.  hapless  bard.  Ovid,  who  was  banished  from  Rome  by 
Augustus.  "A  soul  ill  at  ease  amid  its  surroundings."  —  K.  Y. 
TYRRELL. 

27-49.  Here  too  I  visit,  etc.  Not  much  of  formal  Puritanism 
here.  Shakespeare  was  his  teacher. 

45.    Some  youth,  etc.     Romeo. 

47.   assassin's  heart.     Hamlet. 


278  NOTES 

49,  50.  Troy,  or  Argos,  .  .  .  Creon's  hall,  etc.  An  allusion 
to  the  tragedies  of  ^Eschylos,  Sophocles  and  Euripides. 
"JEschylos,  Sophocles  and  Euripides,  the  three  tragic  poets 
unequalled  yet  by  any,  and  the  best  rule  to  all  who  endeavor  to 
write  Tragedy."  —  Preface  to  Samson  Agonistes.  Cf.  II  Pense- 
roso,  97-102,  and  note. 

51-53.  but  when  spring  calls.  Diodati  wrote  from  the  coun- 
try :  "But  thou,  wondrous  youth,  why  dost  thou  persist  in 
tying  thyself  night  and  day  to  books,  and  studies.  Live,  laugh, 
enjoy  youth  and  the  present ;  and  give  over  wearing  yourself 
out  with  reading  about  the  libations,  and  leisures,  and  indo- 
lences of  the  Sages  of  old." 

54-89.  Here  many  a  virgin  troop,  etc.  In  some  of  the  parks. 
Masson  says,  "  Kensington  Gardens  would  be  about  the  present 
equivalent."  Does  any  one  doubt  that  Milton  was  susceptible 
to  feminine  charms  ?  Cf.  note,  p.  210. 

76.  Dardanian  hands.  An  allusion  to  the  old  legend  which 
said  that  London  was  founded  by  the  Trojans,  and  called  New 
Troy. 

90,  91.  Immortal  Moly,  etc.  By  this  plant  Ulysses  is  made 
proof  against  the  charms  of  Circe. 

"The  root  is  black, 

The  blossom  white  as  milk.     Among  the  gods 
Its  name  is  Moly."  —  Odyssey,  x. 

1629-1645 
ELEGY  VI 

The  heading  to  this  poem  reveals  the  occasion  of  its  inception. 
It  is  in  reply  to  one  of  December  13th,  1629,  written  by  Diodati 
when  he  was  in  the  country  enjoying  the  festivities  preceding 
Christmas,  and  was  sent  about  Christmas  in  the  same  year. 
Diodati  was  continuing  the  study  of  medicine,  and  Milton  was 
still  in  the  University.  Masson  thinks  that  when  Diodati  was 
incorporated  ad  eundem  at  Cambridge  in  July,  1629,  the  two 
friends  must  have  met. 

10-12.    December's  harmless  sports,   etc.     Cf.  Washington 


Irving,  Ch 


NOTES  279 


ing,  Christmas,  Christmas  Day,  and  Christmas  Eve  in  Sketch 
Book. 

19,  21  Not  even  Ovid,  etc.  Ovid,  during  his  banishment, 
wrote  his  Tristia,  and  other  poems  which  were  considered  by 
critics  not  equal  to  those  written  in  Italy. 

21.  Anacreon's  muse.  Anacreon  was  a  native  of  Teos  on 
the  coast  of  Asia  Minor.  His  poetry  was  characterized  by  its 
bacchanalian  turn.  Professor  K.  C.  Jebb  calls  him  the  poet  of 
courtly  festivity. 

23-26.  Pindar  with  Bacchus  glows,  etc.  Pindar  was  the 
poet  of  the  Olympian  Festival,  where  the  present  and  past 
religious  and  heroic  splendor  of  the  Hellenic  spirit  were  united. 
Matthew  Arnold  described  him  as  "the  poet  on  whom  above 
all  other  poets,  the  power  of  style  seems  to  have  exercised  an 
inspiring  and  intoxicating  effect." 

27,  28.     The  Roman  lyrist,  etc. 

"  Bacchus  !  to  thee  belong 
The  glories  twain  of  Peace  and  War, 
The  fight,  the  jest,  the  dance,  the  song  : 
Hail !  genial  King  !  Hail !  youthful  conqueror!  " 

Horace,  Book  ii.  Ode  xix. 

"  Drink,  comrades,  drink  ;  give  loose  to  mirth  ! 
With  joyous  footstep  beat  the  earth, 
And  spread  before  the  War-God's  shrine 
The  Salian  feast,  the  sacrificial  wine." 

Book  i.  Ode  xxxvii. 

29-54.  Now  too  the  plenteous  feast,  etc.  Milton  gives  here 
a  splendid  characteristic  of  what  he  calls  "light  elegy,"  the 
popular  flute  music  suitable  for  social  gatherings  or  the  jovial 
friendly  epistle. 

39-48.  In  tapestried  halls,  etc.  Diodati  was  enjoying  holi- 
day festivities  with  friends  in  the  country,  and  this  description 
of  the  associations  of  the  time  in  the  English  country-mansion  is 
exceedingly  beautiful. 


280  NOTES 

u  As  in  the  winters  left  behind, 

Again  our  ancient  games  had  place, 
The  mimic  pictures'  breathing  grace, 
And  dance  and  song  and  hoodinan  blind." 

In  Memoriam,  LXXVIII. 

u  And  who  but  listened,  —  till  was  paid 
Respect  to  every  true  friend's  claim  : 
The  greeting  given,  the  music  played, 
In  honour  of  each  household  name, 
Duly  pronounced  with  lusty  call, 
And  'Merry  Christmas'  wished  to  all." 

WORDSWORTH,  The  River  Duddon. 

55-78.  But  they,  etc.  "These  twenty-four  lines,"  says 
Masson,  "are  about  Milton's  noblest  in  Latin,  and  deserve  to 
be  learnt  by  heart  with  reference  to  himself,  or  to  be  written 
under  his  portrait." 

59.    him  of  Samos.     Pythagoras. 

67.  Linus.     Theban  philosopher  and  singer.     He  instructed 
Hercules  in  music. 

68.  Tiresias.     A  Theban  prophet.     Cf.  Tennyson,  Tiresias. 

69.  Calchas.     The  prophet  who  went   with  the   Greeks  to 
Troy.     Cf.  Iliad,  i. 

bard  of  Thrace.     Orpheus,  poet,  musician  and  philosopher. 

71-78.   Homer  led,  etc.    Cf.  Odyssey,  x. 

79-88.  Wouldst  thou  be  told,  etc.  An  allusion  to  the  Hymn 
on  the  Nativity. 

91,  92.  Verse  that,  etc.  This  is  a  revelation  that  Diodati 
was  looked  upon  by  Milton  much  as  was  Hallam  by  Tennyson. 

"  Heart-affluence  in  discursive  talk 

From  household  fountains  never  dry  : 
The  critic  clearness  of  an  eye, 
That  saw  thro'  all  the  Muses'  walk." 

In  Memoriam,  cix. 
Cf.  Comus,  619-628,  and  note. 


NOTES  281 

1638-1645 

SONNET 

Milton  set  out  upon  his  Italian  journey  (cf.  p.  209)  full  of  joy 
and  hope,  not  a  little  of  which  was  due  to  his  association  with 
Diodati.  In  his  Epistolae  Familiares,  written  not  long  before 
he  left  England,  we  find  him  greeting  his  friend  who  was  now 
settled  in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  probably  near  Chester. 
He  says  :  "I  would  not  that  true  friendship  turned  on  balance 
of  letters  and  salutations,  all  which  may  be  false  ;  but  that  it 
should  depend  upon  the  deep  roots  of  the  mind  and  sustain 
itself  there  ...  for  the  fostering  of  which  friendship  there  is 
not  need  so  much  of  writing  as  of  a  loving  recollection  of  virtues 
on  the  one  side  and  on  the  other.  Nor,  even  now  should  you 
not  have  written,  would  there  be  a  lack  of  means  for  supplying 
that  good  office.  Your  probity  writes  with  me  in  your  stead 
and  indites  true  letters  on  my  inmost  heart ;  your  blamelessness 
of  morals  writes  to  me,  and  your  love  of  the  good  ;  your  genius 
also,  by  no  means  a  common  one,  writes  to  me,  and  commends 
you  to  me  more  and  more,  .  .  .  Know  that  it  is  impossible  for 
me  not  to  love  men  like  you."  This,  then,  was  the  feeling  he 
carried  with  him  everywhere  during  his  visit  with  the  country- 
men of  his  friend.  While  at  Florence  he  makes  a  journey  to 
Lucca  to  visit  the  town  where  the  Diodati  family  originated, 
and  at  Geneva  visited  the  celebrated  theologian,  Giovanni 
Diodati,  the  uncle  of  Charles. 

In  the  five  sonnets  and  the  canzone  written  in  Italian  there  is 
concealed  an  experience  similar  to  that  in  the  sonnets  of  Shake- 
speare, and  the  critics  are  perplexed  as  to  how  to  interpret  them. 
They  seem  to  reveal  Milton's  love  for  a  beautiful  and  accom- 
plished Italian  lady.  It  is  generally  believed  that  they  were 
written  during  his  visit  to  Italy  and  that  they  record  his  affec- 
tion for  one  whom  he  then  met, — possibly,  but  unlikely,  the 
celebrated  singer,  Leonora  Baroni,  whom  he  heard  at  Rome 
and  to  whom  he  addressed  complimentary  Latin  verses.  The 
lady  is  described  in  the  first  sonnet  as  one 


282  NOTES 

"  whose  harmonious  name  the  Rhine 
Through  all  his  grassy  vale,  delights  to  hear." 

In  the  fourth  he  says : 

"  Lady  !  it  cannot  be  but  that  thine  eyes 

Must  be  my  sun,  such  radiance  they  display." 

The  master-mistress  of  Shakespeare's  passion,  and  the  subject 
of  Wordsworth's  poems  on  Lucy  are  not  more  surely  concealed 
than  is  this  spirit 

"  That  manifests  a  sweetness  all  divine." 

It  was  natural  that  Milton  should  wish  to  confide  this  secret  to 
his  friend  Diodati,  and  the  incident  is  rendered  pathetic  from 
the  fact  that  the  sonnets  never  reached  him.  Cf.  Epitaphium 
Damonis,  note. 

1639-1645 
THE  DEATH  OF  DAMON 

Early  in  1639  Milton  turned  his  steps  homeward.  He  was 
anticipating  the  pleasure  of  meeting  his  friend  in  the  familiar 
scenes  so  dear  to  both,  and  the  opportunity  of  sharing  the 
delights  of  his  tour,  when  he  learned  that  his  hopes  were  vain, 
—  that  Diodati  had  been  dead  for  nearly  a  year.  No  particulars 
were  made  known  to  him  until  he  reached  home.  He  was  at 
first  stunned  by  the  blow,  but  on  gaining  possession  of  himself 
he  could  say  as  did  Tennyson  at  the  death  of  Hallam  : 

"  I  sing  to  him  that  rests  below, 

Arid  since  the  grasses  round  me  wave, 
I  take  the  grasses  of  the  grave, 
And  make  them  pipes  whereon  to  blow." 

The  fact  that  this  poem  was  written  in  Latin  has  caused  it  to 
be  almost  unknown  to  the  general  reader,  and  hence  Lycidas 
has  become  associated  with  the  other  great  elegies  of  English 
poets.  But  Lycidas  lacks  the  strong  personal  note  which  is 
the  characteristic  of  the  Latin  poem.  King  had  been  only  an 


NOTES  283 


associate  of  Milton  in  the  life  of  the  University,  while  Diotlati 
was  the  embodiment  of 

"First  love,  first  friendship,  equal  powers, 
That  marry  with  the  virgin  heart." 

"In  Diodati,"  says  Mr.  Richard  Garnett,  "Milton  found  per- 
haps the  only  friend  whom,  in  the  most  sacred  sense  of  that 
term,  he  had  ever  possessed." 

Mr.  Mark  Pattison  says:  "Milton's  Latin  verses  are  dis- 
tinguished from  most  Neo-Latin  verse  by  being  a  vehicle  of 
real  emotion.  His  technical  skill  is  said  to  have  been  sur- 
passed by  others  ;  but  that  in  which  he  stands  alone  is,  that  in 
these  exercises  of  imitative  art  he  is  able  to  remain  himself  and 
to  give  utterance  to  genuine  passion.  Artificial  Arcadianism 
is  as  much  the  framework  of  the  elegy  on  Diodati  as  it  is  of 
Lycidas.  .  .  .  But  this  factitious  bucolism  is  pervaded  by  a 
pathos  which,  like  volcanic  heat,  has  fused  into  a  new  com- 
pound the  dilapidated  debris  of  the  Theocritan  world." 

"The  poem  is,"  says  Masson,  "beyond  all  question,  the 
finest,  the  deepest  in  feeling  of  all  that  Milton  has  left  us  in 
Latin,  and  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  all  his  poems,  whether 
in  Latin  or  English.  .  .  .  Whoever  will  read  it  will  perceive 
in  it  a  passionateness  of  personal  grief,  an  evidence  of  bursts  of 
tears  and  sobbings  interrupting  the  act  of  writing,  to  which 
there  is  nothing  equivalent  in  the  English  Lycidas." 

1.  nymphs  of  Himera.     Himera  is  a  Sicilian  river  mentioned 
in  the  Idylls  of  Theocritus. 

2.  Daphnis.     A  shepherd  in  the  first  idyll  of  Theocritus. 
Hylas.     The  youth  abducted  by  the  nymphs  in  the  thirteenth 

idyll  of  Theocritus. 

3.  Bion.     The  pastoral  poet  whose  death  Moschus  laments  in 
his  third  idyll. 

6.  Thyrsis.  This  name  is  common  in  pastoral  poetry,  from 
Theocritus  to  Arnold.  Milton  assumes  the  part  of  the  bereaved 
shepherd. 

Arnold,  in  Thyrsis,  gives  us  a  picture  of  one  who  sought  com- 


284  NOTES 

fort  in  the  scenes  associated  with  a  friendship  similar  to  that  of 
Milton  and  Diodati. 

"  Well  !  wind-dispersed  and  vain  the  words  will  be, 
Yet,  Thyrsis,  let  me  give  my  grief  its  hour 

In  the  old  haunt,  and  find  our  tree-topp'd  hill ! 
Who,  if  not  it,  for  questing  here  hath  power  ? 

I  know  the  wood  which  hides  the  daffodil, 

I  know  the  Fyfield  tree, 
I  know  what  white,  what  purple  fritillaries 

The  grassy  harvest  of  the  river  fields, 

Above  by  Ensham,  down  by  Sandford,  yields, 
And  what  sedged  brooks  are  Thames'  tributaries." 

9.  Damon.  Another  common  name  for  shepherd  in  pastoral 
poetry. 

11-14.  The  green  wheat,  etc.  This  makes  it  certain  that 
Diodati  died  soon  after  Milton  left  England  in  April,  1638. 
Milton  returned  in  the  fall  of  1639. 

16.  Tuscan  Fiorenza.  Milton  was  in  Florence  when  his 
friend  died. 

23,  24.  Go,  seek  your  home,  etc.  The  repetition  of  these 
lines  at  regular  intervals  in  the  poem  is  after  the  fashion  of 
Theocritus  and  the  pastoralists. 

41,  42.  To  Daphnis  first,  etc.  Here  is  an  illustration  of  the 
egotism  of  a  great  soul,  "  a  glorious  nature,"  as  Kev.  Frederick 
Robertson  called  it.  Milton  does  not  hesitate  to  take  a  place 
second  only  to  Theocritus. 

43.  Pales.    The  god  of  the  sheepfold. 

44.  Faunus.     The  god  of  the  pastures  and  flocks. 
65-70.   Or  whose  discourse,  etc. 

"  Best  seemed  the  thing  he  was,  and  join'd 
Each  office  of  the  social  hour 
To  noble  manners,  as  the  flower 
And  native  growth  of  noble  mind." 

In  Memoriam,  cxi. 


NOTES  285 

"  There  thou  art  gone,  and  me  thou  leavest  here 
Sole  in  these  fields  !    Yet  will  I  not  despair. 

Despair  I  will  not,  while  I  yet  descry 
'Neath  the  soft  canopy  of  English  air 
That  lonely  tree  against  the  western  sky." 

MATTHEW  ARNOLD,  Thyrsis. 

91,  92.  they,  slighted,  turn,  etc.     Cf.  Lyctdas,  125. 

95-106.  .ffigon  .  .  .  Amyntas  .  .  .  Alphesiboeus  .  .  .  Mop- 
sus.  Names  of  shepherds  in  the  classic  pastoral. 

111.  Saturn's  influence.  The  star  Saturn  was  considered  as 
causing  melancholy  among  shepherds.  Cf.  II  Penseroso,  43. 

123,  124.  JEgle  .  .  .  Hyas  .  .  .  Baucis  .  .  .  Dryope.  Names 
taken  from  mythology  and  applied  to  shepherdesses. 

127-129.  Chloris  too  came,  etc.  Masson  thinks  that  as  the 
"Idumanian  current"  is  the  river  Chelmer  in  Essex,  some 
friend  of  Milton's  is  here  meant. 

133-154.  Ah,  blest  indifference,  etc.  This  contrast  of  natural 
and  moral  affection  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  features  of 
the  poem.  The  one  is  temporary,  the  other  permanent. 

"  Dear  friend,  far  off,  my  lost  desire  ; 
So  far,  so  near  in  woe  and  weal ; 
O  loved  the  most,  when  most  I  feel 
There  is  a  lower  and  a  higher." 

In  Memoriam,  cxxix. 

157-170.  Ah,  what  delusion,  etc.  An  allusion  to  Virgil's 
first  Eclogue,  where  Tityrus  (Virgil)  tells  Melibceus  of  his  visit 
to  Rome,  "  carrying  her  head  as  high  among  all  other  cities  as 
cypresses  do  among  your  bending  hedgerow  trees."  Milton 
implies  that  even  if  Rome  were  as  in  Virgil's  time,  he  paid 
dearly  for  such  a  sight  if  it  took  him  away  from  his  dying 
friend. 

173-192.  Although  well  pleased,  etc.  Here  we  have  an 
allusion  to  the  friendships  Milton  formed  in  Italy.  Carlo  Dati 
and  Antonio  Francini  were  among  the  distinguished  Florentines 
who  did  him  honor,  the  one  in  an  ode  and  the  other  in  an 


286  NOTES 

address.  Milton  himself  entertained  them  with  his  discussions 
in  the  Academies  ;  his  ease  and  grace,  his  learning  and  accom- 
plishments, delighted  them. 

195-216.  While  bright  the  dewy  grass,  etc.  Milton  antici- 
pates his  return  from  Italy  and  the  pleasure  he  would  have  in 
the  society  of  Diodati  the  follower  of  Galen.  Sometimes  Mil- 
ton would  go  to  St.  Albans,  in  Herts  (where  the  British  king 
Cassibelaunus  opposed  Caesar),  and  where  his  friend  lived,  or 
Diodati  would  visit  him  at  Horton  on  the  Colne.  This  reminds 
us  of  the  society  of  Tennyson  and  Hallam. 

"  We  talk'd  ;  the  stream  beneath  us  ran  ; 
The  wine-flask  lying  couch' d  in  moss. 

Or  cool'd  within  the  glooming  wave  ; 

And  last  returning  from  afar, 

Before  the  crimson-circled  star 
Had  fall' n  into  her  father's  grave. 

And  brushing  ankle-deep  in  flowers, 
We  heard  behind  the  woodbine  veil 
The  milk  that  bubbled  in  the  pail, 

And  buzzings  of  the  honied  hours." 

In  Memoriam,  xciv. 

217-224.  Twelve  evenings  since,  etc.  Here  we  have  an  allu- 
sion to  the  fact  that  Milton  was  meditating  a  great  English 
poem,  but  that  the  subject  was  too  complex  for  him.  As 
there  is  no  Diodati  in  whom  to  confide  dare  he  confide  in  us  ? 
He  says,  '  Yes,  I  will  let  you  into  the  secret,'  and  for  this  pur- 
pose he  bids  farewell  to  the  'groves,'  or  the  pastoral,  and  re- 
veals his  high  theme. 

Milton's  father  was  disappointed  that  his  son  did  not  care  to 
enter  the  service  of  the  church.  In  his  Latin  poem  Ad  Patrem, 
written  at  Horton,  Milton  alludes  to  this  feeling  as  an  apparent 
slighting  of  the  Muse. 

"  Nor  thou  persist,  I  pray  thee,  still  to  slight 
The  sacred  Nine,  and  to  imagine  vain 


NOTES  287 

And  useless  powers,  by  whom  inspired,  thyself 

Art  skilful  to  associate  verse  with  airs 

Harmonious,  and  to  give  the  human  voice 

A  thousand  modulations,  heir  by  right 

Indisputable  of  Arion's  fame. 

Now  say,  what  wonder  is  it  if  a  son 

Of  thine  delight  in  verse,  if,  so  conjoined 

In  close  affinity,  we  sympathise 

In  social  arts,  and  kindred  studies  sweet  ? 

Such  distribution  of  himself  to  us 

Was  Phoabus'  choice  ;  thou  hast  thy  gift,  and  I 

Mine  also,  and  between  us  we  receive, 

Father  and  son,  the  whole  inspiring  god. 

No !  howsoe'er  the  semblance  thou  assume 
Of  hate,  thou  hatest  not  the  gentle  Muse, 
My  father  !  for  thou  never  bad'st  me  tread 
The  beaten  path,  and  broad,  that  leads  right  on 
To  Opulence,  nor  didst  condemn  thy  son 
To  the  insipid  clamours  of  the  bar, 
To  laws  voluminous,  and  ill  observed  ; 
But,  wishing  to  enrich  me  more,  to  fill 
My  mind  with  treasure,  led'st  me  far  away 
From  city  din  to  deep  retreats,  to  banks 
And  streams  Aonian,  and,  with  free  consent 
Didst  place  me  happy  at  Apollo's  side." 

227-237.  Of  Brutus,  etc.  In  his  Latin  poem  to  Manso,  an 
Italian  marquis  who  showed  Milton  much  attention  at  Naples, 
he  had  sketched  something  of  his  plan  of  an  Epic  based  on 
the  legendary  history  of  Britain. 

"  Oh  might  so  true  a  friend  to  me  belong, 
So  skilled  to  grace  the  votaries  of  song, 
Should  I  recall  hereafter  into  rhyme 
The  kings  and  heroes  of  my  native  clime, 
Arthur  the  chief,"  etc.  — Manso. 

229.  Rutupia.  Richborough  in  Kent,  whose  headlands  make 
a  safe  harbor.  (M.) 


288  NOTES 

230.  Imogen.     The  wife  of  Brutus. 

231.  Brennus  and  Belinus.     Two  famous  Celts  who  ruled  in 
Britain  centuries  after  Brutus. 

232.  Arviragus.     Son  of  the  British  king  Cunobelin  (Shake- 
speare's Cymbeline).     He  fought  against  the  Roman  invaders 
about  45  A.D.     (M.) 

233.  Armorican.     An  allusion  to  the  settlement  of  Armorica 
in  France  by  those  who  about  450  A.D.  left  Britain  to  escape 
the  tyranny  of  Hengist  and  Horsa,  the  Saxons.     (M.) 

234.  Gorlois.     Duke  of  Cornwall,  whose  wife  Ingraine  gave 
birth  to  Arthur  by  Uther  Peridragon,  king  of  Britain,  whom 
Merlin  introduced  into  her  castle  in  the  guise  of  her  dead  hus- 
band.    Cf.  Malory,  Le  Morte  D"1 Arthur ;  Tennyson,  The  Com- 
ing of  Arthur. 

240-243.  Adieu  my  shepherd's  reed,  etc.  Although  Milton 
changed  the  pastoral  form  and  the  Latin  verse  for  British,  he 
never  carried  out  the  idea  of  an  Arthurian  Epic.  In  his  History 
of  England  we  have  many  of  the  old  legends  of  Britain. 

248-253.  If  Usa,  etc.  The  enumeration  of  these  rivers  re- 
minds us  of  that  in  At  a  Vacation  Exercise. 

Usa.     The  Ouse.    Cf.  Cowper,  The  Poplar  Field. 

Alain.     The  Alyn  flowing  into  the  Dee.     (M.) 

Abra.     The  Humber.     (M.) 

Tamar.     The  river  dividing  Devon  from  Cornwall.     (M.) 

Orcades.     The  Orkneys. 

256-277.  All  this  I  kept,  etc.  A  pathetic  allusion  to  the  fact 
that  he  anticipated  showing  this  outline  of  the  poem  to  Diodati, 
and  also  the  beautiful  gifts  from  the  aged  Manso.  To  those 
who  think  these  gifts  were  only  two  lines  of  Latin  verse  ideal- 
ized, Masson  says  :  "  We  know  of  no  present  of  Manso  to  Mil- 
ton except  the  Latin  distich  of  compliment  — 

'  Ut  mens,  forma,  decor,  facies,  mos,  si  pietas  sic, 
Non  Anglus,  verum  hercle  Angelus  ipse,  fores,' 

and  surely  not  even  Milton's  imagination  could  have  converted 
that  into  two  cups." 


NOTES  289 

278-305.  Thou,  also,  Damon,  etc.  This  beautiful  conclusion 
of  the  poem  surpasses  that  of  Lycidas.  It  throbs  with  passion- 
ate love  and  hope. 

"  The  breath  whose  might  I  have  invoked  in  song 
Descends  on  me  ;  my  spirit's  bark  is  driven, 
Far  from  the  shore,  far  from  the  trembling  throng 
Whose  sails  were  to  the  tempest  given ; 
The  massy  earth  and  sphered  skies  are  riven  ! 
I  am  borne  darkly,  fearfully,  afar ; 
Whilst  burning  through  the  inmost  veil  of  Heaven, 
The  soul  of  Adonais,  like  a  star, 
Beacons  from  the  abode  where  the  Eternal  are." 

SHELLEY,  Adonais. 

"  Far  off  thou  art,  but  ever  nigh  ; 
I  have  thee  still,  and  I  rejoice  : 
I  prosper,  circled  by  thy  voice  ; 
I  shall  not  lose  thee  tho'  I  die." 

"  0  living  will  that  shalt  endure 

When  all  that  seems  shall  suffer  shock, 
Rise  in  the  spiritual  rock, 
Flow  thro'  our  deeds  and  make  them  pure." 

In  Memoriam,  cxxx.,  cxxxi. 


INDEX   TO   FIRST   LINES 


A  Book  was  writ  of  late  called 

Tetrachordon,  95. 
At  length,   my  friend,  the  far- 

fetched letters  came,  258. 
Avenge,  O  Lord,  thy  slaughtered 

saints,  whose  bones,  101. 


Because    you    have    thrown  off 

your  Prelate  Lord,  97. 
Before  the  starry  threshold  of 

Jove's  court,  53. 
Blest  pair  of   Sirens,  pledges  of 

Heaven's  joy,  26. 

Captain  or  Colonel,  or  Knight  in 

Arms,  94. 
Charles  —  and  I  say  it  wondering 

—  thou  must  know,  264. 
Cromwell,  our  chief  of  men,  who 

though  a  cloud,  99. 
Cyriack,  this  three  years'   day 

these  eyes,  though  clear,  103. 
Cyriack,  whose  grandsire  on  the 

royal  bench,  102. 

Daughter   to   that    good    Earl, 
once  President,  95. 

Erewhile    music,    and    ethereal 
mirth,  23. 

Fairfax,  whose    name   in  arms 

through  Europe  rings,  99. 
Fly,  envious  Time,  till  thou  run 


out  thy  race,  25. 


Hail,  Native  Language,  that  by 

sinews  weak,  8. 
Harry,  whose  tuneful   and  well 

measured  song,  97. 
Hence,  loathed  Melancholy,  34. 
Hence,  vain  deluding  Joys,  39. 
Here    lieth    one    who  did  most 

truly  prove,  29. 
Here  lies  old  Hobson.  Death  hath 

broke  his  girt,  28. 
How  soon  hath  Time,  the  subtle 

thief  of  youth,  33. 

I  did  but  prompt  the  age  to  quit 
their  clogs,  96. 

Lady,  that  in  the  prime  of  ear- 
liest youth,  94. 

Lawrence,  of  virtuous  father 
virtuous  son,  102. 

Let  us  with  a  gladsome  mind,  2. 

Look,  Nymphs  and  Shepherds, 
look!  45. 

Methought  I  saw  my  late  es- 
poused saint,  104. 

Now  the  bright  morning-star, 
Day's  harbinger,  27. 

O  Fairest  flower,  no  sooner  blown 

but  blasted,  5. 
O     Nightingale     that    on     yon 

bloomy  spray,  33. 


291 


292 


INDEX  TO  FIRST  LINES 


This  is  the  month,  and  this  the 

happy  morn,  12. 
This   rich   marble   doth    inter, 

30. 


Vane,  young  in  years,  but  in  sage 
counsel  old,  100. 


What  needs  my  Shakespeare  for 
his  honoured  bones,  28. 

When  Faith  and  Love,  which 
parted  from  thee  never,  98. 


When  I  consider  how  my  light  is 

spent,  101. 
When  the  blest  seed  of  Terah's 

faithful  son,  1. 
With  no  rich  viands  overcharged, 

I  send,  261. 

Ye  flaming  Powers,  and  winged 

Warriors  bright,  22. 
Ye  nymphs  of  Himera  (for  ye 

have  shed,  265. 
Yet  once  more,  O  ye  laurels,  and 

once  more,  87. 


INDEX 


ABRA,  288. 

attendance,  180. 

brood,  heavenly,  119. 

Accident,  122. 

azurn,  186. 

Brutus,  287. 

Acheron,  182. 

buskined,  silver,  170. 

adieu,  288. 

BAALIM,  128. 

adjure,  218. 

bard,  hapless,  277. 

CALCHAS,  280. 

JEgle,  285. 

bard,  of  Thrace,  280. 

Came,  142. 

^Egon,  285. 

bards,  165. 

Camus,  202. 

age,  217. 

bass,  128. 

car,  gilded,  179. 

air,  163,  212. 

battlements,  157. 

care,         disapproves 

Airs,  Lydian,  150. 

Baucis,  285. 

that,  236. 

Alain,  288. 

baulk,  219. 

cast,  180. 

ale,  157. 

Bear,   outwatch   the, 

Cassibelan,  286. 

Alphesiboeus,  285. 

164. 

cedarn,  187. 

Alpheus,  205. 

begin,  199. 

cell,  forbidden,  277. 

altar,  125. 

Belinus,  288. 

Celtic,  178. 

amber-dropping,  185. 

bellman,  163. 

centre,  'i  the,  181. 

amorous  on,  118. 

bested,  161. 

Cerberus,  154. 

Ammorean,  114. 

Bion,  283. 

chains,  225. 

Amphitrite,  18(i. 

bird  of  hate,  153. 

chains,  willing,  122. 

Amyntas,  285. 

birds  of  calm,  126. 

chariot,  131. 

Anacreou's,  279. 

black,  all  be,  131. 

charms,  212. 

Anchises,  18G. 

blasts,  urchin,  185. 

Charybdis,  180. 

Antiquity,  182. 

blood,  martyred,  231. 

Chastity,  180. 

Aquilo,  118. 

blue-haired,  177. 

Cheek,  John,  217. 

Arcady,  star  of,  180. 

bolt,  184. 

Chloris,  285. 

Arethuse,  201. 

book,  231. 

Cimmerian,  155. 

Argos,  278. 

born,  214. 

clear,  201. 

Aristotle,  120. 

bosky,  180. 

climb,  203. 

Armorican,  288. 

bout,  159. 

clip,  219. 

art,  138. 

bower,  Amphitrite's, 

close,  127. 

A.  S.,  219. 

186. 

coffers,  121. 

assassin's,  277. 

boy,  Attic,  165. 

compass,  122. 

asphodil,  185. 

breaking,  214. 

commercing,  162. 

Atropos,  141. 

Brennus,  288. 

committing,  220. 

293 

294 


INDEX 


concent,  135. 

ears,  trembling,  201. 

for,  217. 

conscience,  237. 

eclipse,  built  in,  202. 

Fortune,  225. 

consort,  128,  135. 

Edwards,  219. 

Francini,  285. 

Corydon,  157. 

element,  180. 

free,  170. 

Cotytto,  179. 

elf,  185. 

froth-becurled,  114. 

Cranks,  156. 

Emathian,  212. 

fur,  Stoic,  183. 

creep,  203. 

engine,  205. 

Fury,  201. 

Cremona,  131. 

envermeil,  118. 

crofts,  182. 

ere,  126. 

GADDING,  200. 

Cupid,  187. 

erewhile,  131. 

Galen,  286. 

curl,  170. 

Erebus,  184. 

gardens,  187. 

curls,  183. 

Erymanthus,  171. 

gate,  156. 

Cybele,  169. 

Erythraean,  114. 

Genius,  207. 

Cyllene,  171. 

essence,  130. 

gentle,  170. 

cypress-bud,  141. 

Ethiop,  162. 

ghost,  181. 

Euclid,  236. 

Glaucus,  186. 

DAISIES  pied,  157. 

Euphrosyne,  155. 

gloom,  126. 

Damon,  284. 

Even,  179. 

goblin,  158. 

Dardanian,  278. 

evenings,  twelve,  286. 

Gordon,  216. 

Darwen,  225. 

excess,  130. 

Gorlois,  288. 

Daphne,  183. 

exempts,  220. 

gowns,  228. 

Daphnis,  283,  284. 

eyn,  128. 

grain,  162,  184. 

Dati,  285. 

granges,  179. 

dawn,  dappled,  156. 

FAME,  169. 

Green,  Mile-End,  216. 

debonair,  155. 

fantastics,  121. 

December's,  278. 

fast,  162. 

HAEMONY,  183. 

Delphic,  138. 

Faunus,  284. 

half  my  days,  233. 

delusion,  285. 

Favonius,  234. 

hall,  178. 

demons,  164. 

fays,  129. 

halls,  279. 

Deva,  200. 

feast,  279. 

harmony,  Siren's,  171. 

dight,  157. 

feathered,  dewy,  1(55. 

harnessed,  129. 

disinherit,  180. 

fee,  217. 

Harpies,  182. 

divide  to  sing,  131. 

feet,  186. 

haughty,  178. 

dodged,  139. 

fence,  184. 

head,  186. 

dolphins,  207. 

fiend,  158. 

hearse,  142,  207. 

Doric,  207. 

Fiorenza,  284. 

Heaven,  128. 

Dragon,  128. 

flamens,  128. 

Hebe,  180. 

Dryope,  285. 

flighted,  drowsy,  182. 

Hebrides,  207. 

Dunbar,  225. 

fly,  grey,  200. 

Hecate,  179. 

dungeon,  181. 

fond,  161,  178. 

Helicon,  142. 

fondly,  233. 

Herald    of   the    sea, 

EARS,  Midas',  220. 

for,  all,  126. 

202. 

INDEX 


295 


herd,  285. 

junkets,  158. 

Memnon,  161. 

here,  277,  278. 

Juno,  169. 

mickle,  177. 

Hermes,  164. 

milder,  221. 

Hero,  131. 

KINGS,  last  of,  121. 

mist,  204. 

Hesperian,  181. 

kirtled,  flowery,  180. 

mistook,  169. 

Hierarchy,  219. 

kiss,  thought  to,  118. 

Mole,  123. 

Himera,   nymphs  of, 

Moly,  183,  278. 

283. 

LADON,  171. 

Mona,  200. 

hinds,  217. 

lamp,  163. 

monumental,  165. 

Hippotades,  202. 

landskip,  157. 

moon,  187. 

hist,  163. 

language,  120. 

Mopsus,  285. 

hit,  161. 

lantern,  Friar's,  158. 

morn,  125. 

holiday,      sunshine, 

lark,  156. 

morrice,  179. 

157,  187. 

Lars,  128. 

mourners,  131. 

homeward,  207. 

Latona,  169. 

mouths,  203. 

Homer,  280. 

lawn,  126,  162. 

murmurs,  171,  182. 

honour,  170. 

leaden,  162. 

Musseus,  164. 

hooked,  12(5. 

leaves,  131. 

Muse,  200,  279. 

horn,  tasselled,  170. 

lees,  184. 

music,  127. 

hutched,  184. 

Lemures,  128. 

Hylas,  283. 

Leucothea,  186. 

NARCISSUS,  180. 

Hymen,  158. 

license,  217. 

Nature,  171. 

Ligea,  186. 

navel,  182. 

IBERIAN,  178. 
Idumanian,  285. 

line,  Anchises,  186. 
Linus,  280. 
locks,  203. 

Nepenthes,  183. 
Neptune,  185. 
Nereus,  185. 

Imogen,  288. 

Lucina,  141. 

nod,  187. 

imp,  233. 

luck,  122. 

noise,  127. 

Ind,  182. 
indifference,  285. 
individual,  131. 

Lycaeus,  171. 
Lycidas,  199,  200. 
lyrist,  Roman,  279. 

North,  223. 
note,  just,  220. 
night  raven,  155. 

infer,  181. 

nursed,  178. 

iusphered,  177. 
intrude,  203. 

MAB,  Faery,  157. 
Maenalus,  171. 

Nymph,  155,  184. 
nymphs   of   Himera, 

Iris,  178. 

Maid,  just,  119. 

283. 

Isle,  177. 

Manso,  287,  288. 

its,  127. 

marble,  128,  138,  162. 

OCEAN,  126. 

mariners,  178. 

Oceanus,  185. 

JOLLY,  153. 

mask,  131. 

off,  thrown,  218. 

Jove,  177,  184. 

Meander,  180. 

Og,  115. 

Joys,  160. 

Melancholy,  161. 

Oracles,  128. 

julep,  183. 

Meliboeus,  184. 

Orcades,  288. 

296 


INDEX 


orient,  178. 

Quintilian,  217. 

several,  177. 

Orpheus,  159. 

Quips,  156. 

shade,  chequered,  157. 

otherwhere,     are 

Quire,  125,  141. 

shadows,  129. 

found,  131. 

shapes,  180. 

Ovid,  279. 

RAGGED,  155. 

sheep,  204. 

rathe,  207. 

shoou,  183. 

PACE,  131. 

rebecks,  157. 

side,  187. 

Pales,  284. 

reed,  288. 

sight,  happy-making, 

Pan,  127. 

repairs,  207. 

132. 

Panope,  202. 

resolve  me,  118. 

Sihon,  114. 

Parthenope,  186. 

Rivers,  122. 

simples,  183. 

Peer,  177. 

roam,  277. 

single,  180. 

pensioners,  161. 

robe,  158. 

Sirens,  171,  180. 

Peor,  128. 

rock,  131. 

slip,  142. 

perceive,  178. 

rod,  184. 

slope,  179. 

pestered,  177. 

rolled,  231. 

sock,  158. 

pestilence,  119. 

roof,  171. 

song,  288. 

Pharian,  114. 

roosted,  low,  180. 

sons,  119. 

Phillis,  157. 

roses,  155. 

soothest,  184. 

Phoebus,  131. 

round,  179. 

spare,  235. 

Pilot,  202. 

rove,  217. 

spared,  203. 

Pindarus,  212. 

ruddy,  114. 

sparely,.  205. 

pinfold,  177. 

ruffled,  181. 

speckled,  128. 

planet,  170. 

rugged,  202. 

spells,  179. 

pledge,  202. 

Rutupia,  287. 

spets,  179. 

plighted,  180. 

Rutherford,  219. 

sphere,  118,  126,  179. 

pluck,  come  to,  199. 

sphere-metal,  139. 

poets,  182. 

SAGES,  125. 

Spring,  278. 

Powers,  130. 

Samos,  280. 

stakes,  182. 

Predicaments,  120. 

sampler,  184. 

stall-reader,  216. 

prefixed,  119. 

Satyrs,  200. 

Star  of  Arcady,  180. 

Presbyter,  219. 

Saturn's,  285. 

star,  205. 

prevent,  125. 

saws,  179. 

star-ypointing,  138. 

Priest,  219. 

Scotch  -What-  d'ye- 

state,  169,  171. 

primrose,  205. 

call,  219. 

states,  hollow,  228. 

proof,  massy,  165. 

scrannel,  204. 

steep,  200. 

Proteus,  186. 

Scylla,  180. 

Stoic,  183. 

pulse,  184. 

secure,  157. 

stole,  162. 

seek,  so  to,  180. 

storied,  165. 

QUARTERS,  177. 

seize,  142,  218. 

story,  220. 

Queen,  128,  187. 

sepulchral,  131. 

straight,  157. 

quills,  208. 

serene,  177. 

stray,  186. 

INDEX 


297 


strife,  141. 

Towers,  137. 

VACATION,  139. 

strook,  127. 

trace,  181. 

Venus,  155. 

Stygian,  155. 

tract,  177. 

Vergivian,  277. 

suited,  civil,  165. 

Tragedy,  164. 

Vesta,  162. 

surmise,  207. 

trains,  179. 

victory,  214. 

suspicion,  181. 

tresses,  186. 

viewless,  179. 

swain,  177,  185. 

Triple-Tyrant,  231. 

Virtue,  187. 

swart,  181. 

trip  it,  156. 

vizored,  183. 

swinges,  128. 

Triton,  186. 

Vulcan,  183. 

swinked,  180. 

triumphs,  158. 

sylvan,  165. 

Troy,  278. 

WALLS,    of     glass, 

Syrian    shepherdess, 

tub,  Cynic,  183. 

114. 

142. 

Turkis,  181. 

wain,  139. 

turtle,  126. 

wanton,  125. 

TALE,  157. 

twigs,  183. 

warble  forth,  115. 

talent,  one,  233. 

twine,  179. 

Warriors,  130. 

Tamar,  288. 

twins,  187. 

weed,  119,  158,  177. 

taste,  Attic,  235. 

Typhon,  129. 

weeping,  131. 

teemed,  129. 

well,  200. 

Terah,  114. 

UNADORNED,  177. 

whilere,  130. 

than,  126. 

uncouth,  207. 

whist,  126. 

theatre,  277. 

unenchanted,  181. 

wind,  204. 

Themis,  236. 

unexpressive,  127,  207. 

wings,  155. 

Thestylis,  157. 

unharboured,  181. 

wink,  181. 

thigh,  165. 

unmoulding,  182. 

Wizard,   Carpathian, 

thing,  evil,  181. 

unowned,  181. 

185. 

Thone,  183. 

unprincipled,  180. 

wizards,  125. 

thousands,  233. 

unreproved,  156. 

woe,  231. 

throne,  135. 

unsphere,  164. 

wolf,  205. 

thrusts,  184. 

unsunned,  181. 

wolves,  182,  220,  225. 

thunder,  121. 

unvalued,  138. 

worm,  taint,  200. 

thwarting,  170.               unwithdrawing,  183. 

wreath,  laureate,  225. 

Thyrsis,  157,  182,  283.    Usa,  288. 

Tiresias,  280. 

use,  205. 

YCLEPT,  125. 

Tityrus,  285. 

Uther,  288. 

youth,  277. 

REFERENCES 

BIOGRAPHY 

Garnett,  Richard.     Milton  (Great  Writers  Series). 

Johnson,  S.     Milton  (Lives  of  the  Poets). 

Masson,  David.     Life  of  John  Milton.     6  vols. 

Masson,  David.     The  Poetical  Works  of  John  Milton.    3  vols. 

Pattison,  M.     Milton  (English  Men  of  Letters  Series). 

HISTORY 

Archer,  T.     The  Highway  of  Letters. 
Fiske,  J.     Beginnings  of  New  England. 
Gardiner,  S.  R.     History  of  England. 
Green,  J.  R.     Short  History  of  the  English  People, 
Howitt,  W.     Homes  and  Haunts  of  British  Poets. 
Hutton,  L.     Literary  Landmarks  of  London. 
Macaulay,  T.  B.     History  of  England. 
Mitchell,  D.  G.     From  Elizabeth  to  Anne. 

CRITICISM 

Arnold,  M.     Essays  in  Criticism.     Second  Series. 

Bagehot,  W.     Literary  Studies. 

Bayne,  Peter.     Chief  Actors  of  the  Puritan  Revolution. 

Birrell,  A.     Obiter  Dicta.     Second  Series. 

Brooke,  S.  A.     Milton  (Classical  Writers). 

Brooke,  S.  A.     English  Literature.     Macmillan  &  Co. 

Channing,  W.   E.      On  the  Character  and  Writings  of  John 

Milton. 

Carlyle,  T.     History  of  Literature. 
Coleridge,  S.  T.     Lectures  on  Shakespeare  and  Milton. 
Dowden,  E.     Transcripts  and  Studies. 

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REFERENCES  299 

Emerson,  R.  W.     Essays  from  the  North  American  Review. 

Forster,  J.     The  Statesmen  of  the  Commonwealth. 

Lowell,  J.  R.    Prose  Works.    Vol.  IV. 

Masson,  I).     Three  Devils,  and  other  Essays, 

Maurice,  F.  I).     The  Friendship  of  Books. 

Myers,  E.     Introduction  to  Milton's  Prose. 

Macaulay,  T.  B.     Essay  on  Milton. 

Paine,  H.  A.     English  Literature. 

Shairp,  J.  C.    Poetical  Interpretation  of  Nature. 

Saintsbury,  G.     Elizabethan  Literature. 

Scherer,  E.     Essays.    Trans,  by  George  Saintsbury. 

Palgrave,  F.  T.     Landscape  in  Poetry. 

Van  Dyke,  H.     Poems  of  Tennyson  (Milton  and  Tennyson). 


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